Parallele De Plans des plus Belles Salles de Spectacles d'Italie et de France Avec des détails de Machines Théatrales. Mis au Jour Par le Sieur Dumont, Professeur d'Architecture.

Of the 92 leaves, 5 carry engraved text (incl. t.-pl.); 2 carry each one pl. of illus. and 1 pl. of engr. text; 9 carry 2 pl. each; 76 carry 1 pl. each. Leaf [18] is a duplicate of leaf [13].

No publication-date is given on the title plate; but some plates carry dates, the latest of which is 1770.

This album is a collection of sets of engravings by Dumont. During his life-time Dumont published several sets of engravings, the titles and dates of some of which are known: Projet d'une salle des spectacles pour la ville de Brest [etc.] (1744...) [26 pl.]; Details ... St. Pierre (1763) [95 l. of pl.]; Suite des elevations, coupes et profils ... de la basilique de S. Pierre (n.d.); Etudes d'architecture de differens maitres Italiens (1766?); Parallele de plans de plus belles salles de spectacles d'Italie et de France, avec de machines theatrales (1766?); Les ruines de Paestum, autrement Posidonia ... Tr. de l'anglois [of J. Berkenhout] (1769) [18 pl. or 19, XX pl. (some dble.)]; Parallele de plans des plus Belles Salles de Spectacle d'Italie et de France ... au nombre de 54 planches (1774?); Suite de projets detailles de salles de spectacles particulieres Aved des principes de construction (1775?). In Paris about 1770 a collected edition of his prints was published under the title, 'Recueil de plusieurs parties de l'architecture' (NAL dates 1763-1774]. The Royal Academy's collection contains two plates with titles - no. [1], 'Parallele De Plans des plus Belles Salles de Spactacles d'Italie et de France Avec des details ...' (n.d.), and no. [57], 'Suite De Divers Morceaux D'Architecture Composés, Et Mis En Perspective Par Le Sieur Dumont Professeur D'Architecture Pour Servir Aux Peintres Et Décorateurs De Théatres' (n.d.). Most of the plates are numbered; some have the word 'No.' before the number - these seem to indicate the number of the set in the collected edition, 'Recueil de plusieurs parties d'architecture'.

The plates fall into the following groups:

1. Two pl. (numbered No.9, 2), the first being a title-pl. ('Parallele De Plans des plus Belles Salles de Spectacles ...'], the other showing the theatre at Herculaneum;

2. An unnumbered pl., showing the theatre at Vicenza;

3. A plate (numbered 3), showing an 'etablissement de theatre';

4. Five unnumbered plates, the first three showing theoretic views of theatres (the third with captions referring to the theatres at Pesaro and Fano), the last two showing theatres at Parma and Rome;

5. Seven plates (numbered 5 (also 10), 6 (also 9), 7, 8, 4, 9, 10), showing theatres in Rome, Naples and Milan;

6. One unnumbered plate, showing a theatre at Rome;

7. Eleven pl. (numbered 11, 12, 15, 13, 14, 9, 10, 16-19 [no. 9, 10 being a duplicate of no. 9, 10 in set 5 above]), showing theatres at Rome, Milan and Turin);

8. Two unnumbered pl., showing theatres at Madrid and Berlin;

9. Four pl. (numbered 20-23), showing theatres at London and Montpellier;

10. Eight unnumbered pl., showing the theatre at Lyon;

11. Three unnumbered pl., showing theatres at Brest, Metz and Nancy;

12. Two pl. (numbered 27, 28), showing theatres at Paris and Versailles;

13. Three unnumbered pl., showing theatres at Paris;

14. Eight pl. (numbered 29, 30, 13, 31-35), showing projects for a theatre;

14. One unnumbered pl., showing a project for a theatre;

15. Three pl. (numbered 37-39), showing projects for a concert hall;

16. two pl. (numbered 40, 41), showing projects for an open-air theatre.

This ends the long, broken sequence of plates 1-41. There follow:

17. Six pl. (numbered No.10 [with title, 'Suite De Divers Morceaux D'Architecture ...'], 2, 3, [blank], 4, 5), showing a project for a Temple of the Arts, all captioned as composed by Dumont for his reception into the Academy of St. Luke at Rome in 1746 [but with the title-plate carrying the (additional?) words, 'Pour Servir Aux Peintres Et Decorateurs De Theatres'' and the sixth plate (additionally?) captioned 'Scene II du premier Acte de la Tragedie d'Iphigenie en Tauride'];

18. One unnumbered pl., showing a 'Salon A L'Italiene';

19. Three pl. (numbered 6-8), showing a projected triumphal arch (two signed as invented by Dumont in 1759, two as engraved in 1766, 1767);

20. Eight pl. (numbered No. 8 [captioned 'Plan generale d'un Jardin avec Belvedere ...'], No.8 and 1, blank, 3, 5, 5, 4, 7), all showing a belvedere or casino, except the first '5', which shows a projected dining-room decor, and '7', which is an engraved statement of expenses for the projected belvedere or casino;

21. One unnumbered pl., showing a salon in the form of a temple, suitable for a park such as Versailles or a great English garden;

22. Three pl. (numbered blank, 9?, 49), showing fountains;

23. Two pl. (numbered 6, 7), showing plan and elevation of a projected hunting-lodge/hermitage;

24. Three unnumbered pl., showing stage scenes, the last incorporating a view of Paestum;

25. Three unnumbered pl., showing views of Paestum, the second dated as published in 1764;

26. Two unnumbered pl. on one sheet, showing Capua, the second being a lengthy engraved caption;

27. Two pl. (the first numbered 12) on one sheet, showing the Roman arch at Orange, the second pl. being a lengthy engraved caption;

28. Two pl. (the latter numbered 19) on one sheet, showing the Flavian Amphitheatre and the Arch of Constantine at Rome, incorporating a lengthy engraved caption;

29. One unnumbered pl., being a map, captioned 'Partie de Carte de L'Italie Relative a l'oeuvre de Mr. Dumont'.

30. Two unnumbered plates of engraved text, the first being 'Extrait Des Registres De L'Academie Royale D'Architecture ... Octobre 1764', dated '22 Janvier 1765', the second being 'Extrait des Registres des deliberations de la Compagnie de Mrs. les Architectes Expert des Batiments a Paris ... 1766', dated 1766, and carrying also an engraved notice referring to the collection which 'renferme Tous les details de St. Pierre de Rome au nombre de 100. Planches' and 'une suite des plus beaux Theatres de l'Europe Tant anciens que modernes au Nombre de 60. Planches'.