BERNARD PICARD (Paris 1673 - Amsterdam 1733). "Various... Lot 39

BERNARD PICARD (Paris 1673 - Amsterdam 1733). "Various Pagodas and Penances of the Fakirs". Two early 18th century Dutch engravings. Texts in French. Edited in Amsterdam by Jean Frédéric Bernard. Soiling, damp stains, cracks, creases and some tears. They were part of the book "Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde", which appeared from 1723 to 1743. Size: 35 x 45 cm (larger) . Bernard Picard was a French engraver. His father Etienne Picart was also an engraver. He moved to Antwerp in 1696, and then spent a year in Amsterdam, before returning to France at the end of 1698. After his wife died in 1708, he moved to Amsterdam in 1711. Most of his work was illustrations of books, including the Bible and works by Ovid. His most famous work is Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde, which appeared from 1723 to 1743 and was an immense effort to record the religious rituals and beliefs of the world in all their diversity, as objectively and authentically as possible. Jean-Frédéric Bernard (1683-1744) was a French publisher and writer. Born into a Huguenot family, he took refuge in Amsterdam because of the persecutions to which the Huguenots were subjected in France during Bernard's lifetime.Jean-Frédéric Bernard's most famous work is probably the encyclopaedia of religions entitled Cérémonies et Coutumes Religieuses de tous les Peuples du Monde, created in collaboration with the engraver and designer Bernard Picart between 1723 and 1743. This work is considered "the book that changed Europe" by scholars Lynn Hunt, Margaret C. Jacob, and Wijnand Mijnhardt, according to whom Cérémonies is the first major comparative study of religions published on the Old Continent, making a significant contribution to religious tolerance, appearing on the cultural scene at a time of persecution and conflict between religious communities.