Allegory of the Ages, Pl. 13 — Nouvelle Iconologie Historique

A hand-coloured engraving by Jean-Charles Delafosse, personifying the ages of the world through classical deities and richly ornamented trophies.

Drawn and engraved by Jean-Charles Delafosse. From Nouvelle Iconologie Historique ou Attributs Hiéroglyphiques, Plate 13. Published in Paris, c. 1768.

Delafosse was a leading figure in the goût grec, the austere early Neoclassical current that reshaped French decorative art after mid-century. His Iconologie codified a new vocabulary of allegorical attributes drawn from antiquity, supplying designers and ornemanistes with a repertoire that would echo through Louis XVI interiors and beyond.

Hand-coloured copperplate engraving. Sheet size approximately 45.9 × 33.8 cm. Excellent.