MASSE, Jean-Baptiste (1700-1757)- LE BRUN, Charles (1687-1767). La grande galerie de Versailles et les deux salons qui l'accompagnent. Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1752. Wide-margined copy of this sumptuous work epitomising the grandeur of the Sun King. It contains engravings of the paintings created by Charles Le Brun for Versailles, commissioned by Louis XIV as official gifts. Le Brun devoted the last ten years of his life to decorating the palace galleries, illustrating the glorious events of the reign (1661-1678). Jean-Baptiste Massé spent eight years drawing them, and a further twenty years were required to engrave the plates in reverse. Printed by the Imprimerie du Roy, the work is considered a publishing masterpiece of Ancien Régime France. Atlas folio (670 x 500mm). Engraved portrait of Jean Baptiste Massé and 52 plates executed by Aubert, Audran, Beauvais, Cochin the Younger, Tardieu, and Wille after drawings by Le Brun and Massé (uniform browning). Elegantly bound in early 20th-century half morocco with marbled paper sides, marbled endpapers. (1)