Bernard de Montefaucon (1655-1741)

L'antiquite expliquee (en francois et en latin) et representee en figures.
(Explain the ancients in French and in Latin and represent them in figures)

5 volumes and 5 supplementary volumes
Published in Paris, 1719

Various illustrations depicted within each volume.

Antiquity explained and represented in figures is a work in 15 volumes by the Benedictine of Saint-Maur Bernard de Montfaucon published in 1719 and 1724. For Montfaucon, Antiquity is not limited to the Greeks , Romans and Egyptians , but includes the Germans , Gauls , Parthians .

The drawings are by Sébastien Leclerc , Nicolas de Largillierre and Jean Audran , engraved by Audran and Leclerc.

Dedicated to Count Victor Marie d'Estrées , who had become the symbol of antiquarian literature, this luxury work accompanied by 1,120 plates was sold by subscription for the first time in France . It was a great success since the 1,800 copies quickly sold out upon publication, and a second print run of 2,000 had to be produced the same year. Another reissue was published in 1724, accompanied by 5 volumes of Supplement.