ars libri ltd.

rare and scholarly books on the fine arts


  • Early Art Literature Exhibited at the International Fine Art Fair
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    31

    PORCACCHI, TOMMASO.

    Funerali antichi di diversi popoli, et nationi; forma, ordine, et pompa di sepolture, di essequie, di consecrationi antiche et d’altro, descritti in dialogo. Con le figure in rame di Girolamo Porro padovano. (8), 95, (1)pp. Fully engraved dec. title and 23 numbered engravings by Girolamo Porro in text (approx. 92 x 155 mm. each). Handsome woodcut publisher’s device in colophon, woodcut culs-de-lampe and lettrines. Lrg. 4to. Contemporary vellum over boards, titled in pen at the spine. Second edition; the first was published by Galignani in 1574. Mortimer notes that several of the copperplates (nos. 3-6, 13, 16) show signs of reworking. This treatise on the funerary customs of the ancients (Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Indian, Scythian and other) was used as a handbook by planners of princely funerals; Vincenzo Borghini, for example, is known to have consulted it for the obsequies of Cosimo I de’ Medici. The text is in the form of a dialogue about the plates, and begins with a discussion of the illustrator, Giro lamo Porro, who is described as the inventor of a flying machine, as well as an artist of remarkable gifts. Porcacchi and Porro collaborated on another work shortly before this, ‘L’isole piu famoso del mondo’ (Venice, 1572). Porro’s illustrations are based in part on engravings in Pierre Woeiriot’s “Pinax iconicus antiquorum ac variorum in sepulturis rituum ex Lilio Gregorio excerpta” (Lyons, 1556). Occasional light stains and spots; generally a crisp copy, with strong clear impressions of the prints; covers slightly bowed

    Venetia (Giorgio Angelieri, alle spese de gli Heredi di Simon Galignani de Karera), 1591.

    Borroni II.13439.1; Cf. (citing both editions): Cicognara 1766; Mortimer Italian 395; Brunet IV.820; Graesse V.414; Adams P1903

    32

    PORTA, GIACOMO DELLA.

    Autograph receipt, signed, dated Roma 22 agosto 1589. 1f. (on one side of a formerly folded quarto sheet). 7 full lines. Io. Jac.o della Porta ho ricevuto da VirgilioPanzaroli ...Camerlengo della Compagnia della Sant.a Trinità scudi sessanta quali sono per frutti della Compagnia d’Uffizio.... On the verso, a directive by Panzaroli for the payment. A few losses along the path of the ink.

    Roma, 1589. $3,000.00

    POZZO, BARTHOLOMEO DAL

    33

    POZZO, BARTHOLOMEO DAL.

    Le vite de’ pittori, degli scultori, et architetti veronesi. Raccolte da varj autori stampati, e manuscritti, e da altre particolari memorie. Con la narrativa delle pitture, e sculture, che s’attrovano nelle chiese, case, & altri luoghi publici, e privati di Verona, e suo territorio. [Bound with:] Aggiunta alle Vite de pittori, degli scultori et architetti veronesi. (8), 313, (33)pp.; (2), 42, (2)pp. Woodcut title-page vignette of Verona on the principal work. 4to. Handsome new patterned boards with leather label. An important source work on the artists and art treasures of Verona, highly praised by Schlosser, who calls Dal Pozzo “uno storiografo che è tra i migliori della sua specie,” and the separate “Aggiunta” (here bound in) “un copioso elenco dei tesori d’arte di Verona, molto importante per la descrizione degli affreschi di case private in quella città cosí gaia di colore, e specialmente per un esatto somario delle raccolte particolari....” A very fine and attractive copy.

    Verona (Giovanni Berno/ Pierantonio Berno), 1718. $2,000.00

    Arntzen/Rainwater H116; Chamberlin 2035; Schlosser pp. 532, 550, 566; Cicognara 2351; Lichtenthal p. 61; Graesse V.429

    34

    RAFFEI, STEFANO.

    A collection of six publications on antiquities in the collection of Cardinal Albani, at the Villa Albani in Rome. Folio. Early plain blue wrapper. 6 works, bound in 2 vols. Contents as follows: Ricerche sopra un apolline della villa dell’eminentissimo Signor Cardinale Alessandro Albani. v, (1), 18pp., 3 engraved plates. Engraved title-page vignette, cul-de-lampe and 2 illus. Folio. Contemporary heavy speckled wraps. gilt. A handsome copy. Borroni II.8151.1. Together with the following 5 works, which are bound together in a separate volume: 1. Il nido. Canzone didascalica sopra un antico nido di marmo esistente nella villa dell’E.mo, e R.mo Principe Sig. Cardinale Alessandro Albani. 28pp., 2 engraved plates (signed Campanella). Borroni II.8166. 2. Dissertazione sopra un singolar combattimento espresso in bassorilievo esistente nella villa dell’Eminentissimo...Cardinale Alessandro Albani. Continued as: 3. Filotete addolorato. Altro bassorilievo nella villa dell’Eminentissimo...Cardinale Alessandro Albani. 28pp., 2 plates (1 double-page) with 4 illus. Borroni II.8122, cf. II.8151.1. 4. Saggio di osservazioni sopra un bassorilievo della villa dell’Eminentissimo...Cardinale Alessandro Albani. 56pp., 2 plates (by Campanella; 1 folding). Engraved title-page vignette, 4 engraved culs-de-lampe. Borroni II.8153. 5. Osservazioni sopra alcuni antichi monumenti esistenti nella villa dell’Eminentissimo...Cardinale Alessandro Albani. 69pp., 6 plates (1 folding) with 8 illus. Cf. Borroni II.8151.1. Folio. Early plain blue wrapper. The six works are all present in first editions. The group was later republished in a single volume in 1821 by Carlo Mordacchini, in Rome (Borroni II.8151.1; Brunet V.1463). The antiquities described in these publications, which came largely from excavations at Tivoli, were grandly installed in Albani’s villa as though in a museum, accompanied by Mengs’ renowned fresco “Parnassus.” An interesting account is given by Luca Leoncini in his article on Albani in the Dictionary of Art. Occasional light wear; the final work somewhat browned in portions.

    Roma (Stamperia Salomoniana; Generoso Salomoni), 1778; n.d.; n.d.; 1773; 1779. $2,800.00

    35

    (RAPHAEL) Chaperon, Nicolas

    Sacrae historiae acta a Raphaele Urbin. in Vaticanis xystis ad picturae miraculum expressa. Fully engraved allegorical title and dedication leaves, 52 through-numbered engraved plates. Oblong folio. Mid-nineteenth century black pebbled cloth, with gilt supralibros “A.L.” Third state (identified in “Raphael Invenit” by the presence of the words “Lutetiae Parisiorum” on the title and “Petrus Mariette, excudit” on the dedication). “La serie delle 51 incisioni dalle Logge Vaticane realizzate da Nicolas Chaperon è da considerare --come rilevava già il Mariette (‘Notes Manoscriptes,’ p. 130) co il suo attento occhio critico--la piú riuscita e la piú aderente allo spirito raffaellesco fra quelle eseguite nel XVII secolo. Essa infatti costituisce l’espressione piú alta del gusto classicistico francese dominato a Roma in quegli anni dalla personalità di Nicolas Poussin. Gravitando a Roma proprio nell’orbita del Poussin, lo Chaperon incise le Logge nel 1649 sembra--come riporta la Daclos (1977, p. 5)--per incarico d ello stesso pittore che aveva avuto dal re di Francia l’ordine di far incidere tali opere allo scopo di farle conoscere e studiare ai giovani pittori francesi non presenti a Roma” (Simonetta Prosperi Valenti Rodinò, in “Raphael Invenit”). Two plates supplied from another copy, trimmed and laid down (one with Parisian purchase annotations on the verso, dated 1808); one plate with small stain in image; generally a clean copy set, with occasional small stains confined to margins; light wear to the binding. Presentation inscription in the blank margin at the head of the title, from the eminent French Salon painter and Prix de Rome winner Émile Lévy to his son Auguste, February 1844.

    Rome (P. Mariette), 1649. $3,000.00

    Raphael Invenit: Logge VI (p. 86ff.); Brunet IV.1108; Graesse VI.26

    36

    Gersaint, Edmé François.

    Catalogue raisonné de toutes les pièces qui forment l’oeuvre de REMBRANDT. Mis au jour, avec les augmentations nécessaires, par les sieurs Helle et Glomy. xxxii, 326, (2)pp. Fine etched frontis. portrait, signed J.B.G. (Jean-Baptiste Glomy?), after Rembrandt’s “Self-Portrait with Saskia.” Nineteenth-century speckled boards with paper label. First edition of the first catalogue ever published of Rembrandt’s etchings, written by the distinguished art dealer and connoisseur Gersaint. Title-page with small loss at right margin, and with early ownership signatures; one section a bit browned; a very nice copy, ex-libris F.F. Hofbibliothek Donaueschingen.

    Paris (Hochereau l’aîné), 1751. $750.00

    Freitag 10391; Riggs p. 653

     

    37

    RICHARDSON [JONATHAN], SEN & JUN.

    An Account of Some of the Statues, Bas-Reliefs, Drawings and Pictures in Italy, &c. With remarks. (50), 357, (5)pp. 2 wood-engraved figs. in text; wood-engraved culs-de-lampe. Sm. 4to. Contemporary sprinkled calf gilt (unobtrusively renewed at hinges, with original backstrip laid down). A fine copy, crisp and fresh. First edition; a second edition appeared in 1754, expanded with the younger Richardson’s letters to his father from the Continent. "I veri e proprii popoli di viaggiatori di quel tempo, gli Inglesi, i Tedeschi e i Francesi si sono mostrati presto attivi in questo campe anche letterariamente. L’opera piú importante e significativa del genere è dovuta a Jonathan Richardson (1722)" (Schlosser). A very important book in the literature of art history, and in the history of taste and connoisseurship. London (J. Knapton ), 1722 .

    London (J. Knapton ), 1722 . $1,600.00

    Borroni II.3143; Schlosser p. 539; Dobai I.690.886ff.; Pine-Coffin 722

    38

    SAMMELBAND.

    Three reproductive suites published by Giovanni Giacomo de’ Rossi, circa 1675-1690, of great fresco cycles in Rome: Pietro da Cortona’s Galleria of the Palazzo Pamphili, by Cesio; Raphael’s decorations in the Vatican logge, by Aquila and Fantetti; and Annibale Carracci’s ceiling of the Camerino of the Farnese Palace, by Aquila. All plates are hinged onto stubs. Fine late eighteenth-century marbled boards, 3/4 red morocco, the spine (somewhat faded and rubbed) gilt with Essex cypher and coronet, and inscribed in compartments "Prince Panfilio’s Gallery," "Raphaels Gallery," and "Imagines Farnesian"; within, a contemporary shelf label, and, at the outset of the second and third suites, the armorial ex-libris of Algernon Capell, 2nd Earl of Essex (1701). Contents as follows:

    1. (Pietro da Cortona) Galeria dipinta nel Palazzo del Prencipe Panfilo da Pietro Berettini da Cortona intagliata da Carlo Cesio. 16 etched plates by Cesio after Pietro da Cortona (14 double-page, of which 3 folding), including fully etched title and dedication, all before numbers, of which 15 in first states (including 2 of which there are no recorded impressions) and 1 in an undescribed state between the first and second. This magnificent suite records one of the greatest Roman baroque fresco cycles, the ceiling of the gallery of the Palazzo Pamphili, painted by Pietro da Cortona between 1651 and 1654. Depicting the story of Aeneas (from whom the Pamphili claimed descent), it was the most important work of Pietro’s late maturity, and the most important undertaking in painting during the pontificate of Innocent X. Carlo Cesio (1626-1686) was one of Pietro’s leading pupils; though his activity as a printmaker was confined almost entirely to reproductive engravings, the series is quite freely and expressively drawn, on a grand scale. Undated, the work can have been issued no later than 1677, when, as noted by Paolo Bellini (in The Illustrated Bartsch), it appears in de’ Rossi’s list of publications. As the suite is dedicated by Cesio to Prince Camillo Pamphili, who died in 1667, the etchings were presumably completed a decade before. Sets of the first state are quite rare, and indeed Bellini was unable to locate examples of two of the states which are present here (4705.066.S1 and 4705.079.S1) and only surmised their existence "by analogy with others in this series." The title plate, furthermore, is present in an unrecorded intermediate state (of 3), including the publisher’s address as inscribed in the second state, but before numbering. Superb impressions throughout, with plate tone. One plate (B.4705.069.S1) with a small loss at right edge of the subject, with old mend (blank infill); otherwise the series is in extremely fresh condition. Tipped onto the verso of the title plate, the armorial ex-libris of Algernon Cappell, second Earl of Essex (1701). Roma (Gio. Iacomo Rossi, alla Pace alinsegna [sic] di Parigi), n.d. (circa 1677?) Bellini, Paolo (editor). The Illustrated Bartsch, Vol. 47: Commentary, Part 1 (New York, 1987), 4705.065-.080; Berlin 4095; Brunet I.811f.; Graesse I.348

    2. (Raphael) Aquila, Pietro & Fantetti, Cesare. Imagines Veteris ac Novi Testamenti. 55 etched and engraved plates by Aquila and Fantetti after Raphael’s fresco decorations in the Vatican logge, including elaborate dedication portrait of Queen Christina of Sweden and frontispiece portrait of Raphael after Maratta (both folding), a plate of Raphael’s fresco of the prophet Isaiah at S. Agostino, Rome (here bound in at the end), and 52 through-numbered plates. "Le ‘Imagines Veteris ac Novi Testamenti’ furono pubblicate a Roma nel 1675 da Giangiacomo de Rossi e costituiscono uno dei tributi piú importanti del classicismo seicentesco all’opera di Raffaello.... L’opera deve essere stata ideata nell’ambiente ufficiale del classicismo romano del tardo Seicento, perchè reca nel primo frontispizio la dedica di Giangiacomo de Rossi alla Regina Cristina di Svezia, nota committente e collezionista, e nel secondo inciso da Aquila composto dal ritratto da Raffaello coronato dalla Fama e pianto dalle tre Arti--Pittura, Scultura e Architettura--, il disegno si deve a Carlo Maratta, maestro riconosciuto del classicismo seicentesco.... Lo stile delle incisioni è piuttosto misurato e piano; le tavole incise dallo Aquila mostrano una maggio sicurezza d’intaglio e una linea piú modulata, dovuta forse alla sua pratica come incisore di disegni del Maratta e della sua scuola" (Raphael Invenit). Brilliant impressions, with plate tone, in fresh condition. Tipped onto the verso of the de dication portrait, the armorial ex-libris of Algernon Capell, second Earl of Essex (1701). [Roma] (Jo. Jacobi de Rubeis cura ac sumptibs, delineatae, incisae, ac typis editae), 1675. Bernini Pezzini, Grazia, et al: Raphael Invenit: Stampe da Raffaello nelle collezioni dell’Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica (Roma, 1985), Logge VII; Cicognara 2051

    3. (Carracci, Annibale) Imagines Farnesiani cubiculi. Cum ipsarum monocromatibus et ornamentis Romae in aedibus sereniss. ducis parmensis ab Annibale Carracci aeternitati pictae. A Pietro Aquila delineatae incisae. 13 double-page numbered and signed engravings, with 14 subjects, depicting the frescos by Annibale for the ceiling of the Camerino in the Palazzo Farnese. Commissioned by Cardinal Odoardo Farnese and executed between 1595 and 1597, the cycle was the immediate predecessor of Annibale’s yet more famous decorations in the Galleria of the palace. The suite is stabbed in the upper margin, probably indicating that it was formerly bound (sideways) in wrappers or an earlier album, perhaps Aquila’s "Galeriae farnesinae icones Romae," a series of 21 plates which, Brunet notes, it usually accompanies. Bright, strong impressions, in fresh condition. Roma (Io. Iacobus de Rubeis cura, sumptibus, ac typis editae, ad Templ. S. Mariae de Pace cu. Priv. S. Pont.), n.d. (circa 1690?)

    Berlin 4086 ; Guilmard p. 319 no. 40; Besterman p. 1 $8,500.00

    39

    SANDYS [GEORGE].

    Sandys Travels, Containing an History of the Original and Present State of the Turkish Empire: their laws, government policy, military force, courts of justice, and commerce. The Mahometan religion and ceremonies: a description of Constantinople, the Grand Signior’s seraglio and his manner of living: also, of Greece, with the religion and customs of the Grecians. Of Aegypt; the antiquity, hieroglyphicks, rites, customs, discipline, and religion of the Aegyptians.... Of Armenia...A Description of the Holy-Land....Lastly Italy described.... Seventh edition. (4), 240pp. Fully engraved dec. half-title (“6th edition”), folding map, and folding engraved panorama of Constantinople hors texte. 47 engraved illus. Lrg. 4to. Handsome contemporary English speckled calf gilt. “The work was first published in 1615 and reprinted many times during the 17th century. At that time it was the most elaborately illustrated book on the Levant. Sandys, who travelled in 1610 and 1611, was regarded as a special authority throughout the 17th century” (Blackmer). A very fine copy.

    London (John Williams Junior), 1673. $1,750.00

    Atabey 1087; Wing S680; cf. Blackmer 1484; Cox I.206 (misdated 1672)

    40

    Pompei, Alessandro.

    Li cinque ordini dell’architettura civile di MICHEL SANMICHELI. Rilevati dalle sue fabriche, e descritti e publicati con quelli di Vitruvio, Alberti, Palladio, Scamozzi, Serlio, e Vignola. 112pp. Superb etched frontispiece by Antonio Balestra, with portrait medallion of Sanmicheli admired by the personification of Architecture and a putto; etched title-page vignette, also by Balestra, of a putto with drawing instruments; 6 etched headpieces (4 with portrait roundels of architects); 37 full-page etched plates in text, by Pompei after Gaudenzio Bellini; 1 additional etched plate (half-page). Sm. folio. Early buff heavy wraps., backed with marbled paper. First edition, intermediate issue, with title identical to that described in the RIBA and Fowler catalogues, but collating like that in the Millard collection, which has a variant title. Millard states that priority of one issue over the other cannot be assigned with certainty. This is the first monograph on Sanmicheli. Its author, Count Alessandro Pompei, whose family seat, the Palazzo Pompei in Verona, was designed by Sanmicheli, was also a practicing architect of some distinction, thoroughly steeped in Vitruvianism. The book was extremely influential. “Noting the lack of extant drawings by Sanmicheli and the absence of theoretical contributions on his part, Pompei analyzed Sanmicheli’s orders of architecture, comparing them with those of the most outstanding published masters, in a project that parallels closely (though on a smaller scale) the reëlaboration of Andrea Palladio by Ottavio Bertotti-Scamozzi. Despite the rhetorical and aridly generalized methods--there are no references to actual buildings--Pompei’s study had significant consequences, reinforcing the interest of neoclassical criticism in Sanmicheli, already nurtured in the writings of Francesco Milizia and Tommaso Temanza, and providing a foundation for Ferdinando Albertolli, Francesco Ronzani, and Girolamo Lucioll i” (Millard). It also contains discussions of the origin of architecture, and of classical models from antiquity through the Renaissance, and stinging criticism of baroque architects, who, he suggests, have corrupted a native Italian precedent with watered-down foreign distortions. The magnificent frontispiece by the painter Antonio Balestra (1666-1740), the teacher of Pietro Longhi and Rosalba Carriera, shows in turn the influence of Giambattista Tiepolo. One plate with very small hole at margin, affecting perhaps one digit of a number; a very fine, fresh copy.

    Verona (Jacopo Vallarsi), 1735. $5,500.00

    Millard Italian 106; Fowler 286; Cicognara 647; Berlin 2631; Comolli IV.227-235


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