[ILLUSTRATED BOOKS]. RUBENS, Peter Paul (1577-1640). La Galerie du Palais du Luxembourg Peinte par Rubens... Paris: Chez le Sr. Duchange Graveur du Roy, 1710. Elephant Folio. Illustrated with engraved frontispiece portrait of Rubens, 21 full-page engravings and 3 double-page engravings. [iv, engraved text] pp. Approximately 24 1/2 x 17 1/2". Bound in nineteenth-century half brown pebbled morocco over brown cloth boards, spine tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments, 7 raised bands. 

Spine and joints worn and scuffed, boards edgeworn and scuffed, light wear to boards, hinges reinforced, later endleaves and blanks. Text and plates toned, thumbsoiled, occasionally foxed. Fine. Armorial bookplate of de Courgy on verso of title-page. All pages and plates engraved by Bercy. Complete. FIRST EDITION OF THIS COLLECTION OF ENGRAVED PLATES OF THE MAGNIFICENT PAINTINGS AT THE GALERIE DU LUXEMBOURG, AS COMMISSIONED BY MARIE DE MEDICI. Marie de Medici, the widow of the French king Henry IV, commissioned the rebuilding of the Palais du Luxembourg in the style of Florence's Pitti Palace, reminding her of her childhood. These magnificent engravings show scenes from Marie de Medici's life, as painted by the celebrated Flemish Baroque painter, Rubens. Complete copies of this beautiful work are scarce.