Album with drawings depicting 16th and 17th-c. costumes.

23 drawings (c. 18 x 14 cm), watercolour, paper or laid paper, 2 signed "C.B. 1845", 1 signed "W[illiam] Le Roy" (some light spotting at blank edges).

Stuck at corners in oblong 4to album, grey ff. (spotting, offsetting), filled up with 74 blank ff. Contemp. violet morocco, covers with blind- and gilt-stamped decorated frames and gilt title "Costumes anciens", gilt-orn. flat spine, gilt sides & inside dentelles, a.e.g., decor. endpapers (sl. rubbed, corners bumped). Good set in a nice, Romantic binding.

Album with 23 fine watercolour drawings showing 16th & 17th-c. Flemish costumes, copied from old paintings at that time in Belgian collections (by i.a. Bruegel, Snayers, Van Der Laen). Drawings by Charles Brias (Mechelen 1798-1884 Brussels), known for his landscapes, genre paintings and portraits, and Pierre François Le Roy (Namur 1774-1862 Brussels), member of the Le Roy family of artists. On verso of each drawing is ms. information on the artist and the date of the drawing, after which painting, to whom it belonged (and sometimes where the owner bought it), and what it depicts. Owners are i.a. Comte de Beauffort, Comte de Mérode-Westerlo, Comte de Lannoy, Académie de Malines, Felix Le Roy, M. Beukelaers. Loosely added ms. list of the drawings.