A set of thirty-three prints reproducing heads from 'The School of Athens'

A set of thirty-three etchings reproducing heads of figures from Raphael's fresco of 'The School of Athens', painted in c.1509-10 in the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican; from 'Le LII Teste della celebre scuola d'Atene, dipinta da Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, disegnate in XL carte dal Cavalier Anton. Raffaello Mengs, incise da Dom. Cunego', a series of forty prints reproducing fifty-two heads from the fresco. The series was printed and published in Rome in 1785. The plates were engraved by Domenico Cunego after designs by Raphael Mengs, who is also the author of a full-size painted copy of the famous fresco now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. no.P.36-1926). Each print is lettered along the bottom margin with production details. Some plates are numbered at top left; most of them are lettered with identification of the sitter.