A proof impression of the first state before the polishing of the stipple marks in the upper border of the plate and the numbering on the upper right corner. The Almanach Iconologique was a yearly edition entirely illustrated by Gravelot between 1765 and 1773. Each volume comprised one title page and twelve illustrated vignettes and a text page. After Gravelot's death, the Almanach Iconologique was taken over by Cochin the Son, who kept illustrating the volumes until 1781. Our plate is a proof impression for the tenth plate of the first edition from 1765 dedicated to the arts. The illustrations were allegories of the arts as defined by 18th century intellectuals of the Siecle des Lumieres and based on Cesare Ripar's allegorical model designed in his Iconologia overo Descrittione dell'Imagini universali (Rome, 1593). According to the I.F.F.: "Trés précieux ouvrage entièrement composé par Gravelot jusqu'à l'anée 1773 incluse." (I.F.F., p. 571).