Rare early edition of this famous work on sculpture, perspective and the aesthetic theory of the plastic arts, of particular importance for the diffusion of perspective theory to the north of Florence according to Kemp, who characterises the work’s technical innovations as “a curious mélange of the Albertian method, using..... More
First edition of this potted version of Venetian history as seen through the portraits and other paintings hanging in or decorating some of the public rooms of the Palazzo Ducale after the fire of 1577, of art historical interest for the disposition of numerous famous Venetian paintings during the 16th..... More
Very rare first edition of a set of engravings by the Antwerp printmaker Jean-Baptiste Barbé (1578-1649) after the designs of Theodoor van Loon (c.1581-1649), a Flemish painter noted as an early stylistic follower of Caravaggio (1571-1610). The work presents bust-length portraits of the Holy Family, the Four Evangelists, and the..... More
Rare first French edition (original Spanish 1585) of Diego de Torres's history of north Africa, a detailed account of the on-going conflict between the Xarifes (the Saadian dynasty), the king of Fez, and the Turks, augmented with his own first-hand observations. Following the expulsion of the Moors from Europe..... More
Rare first edition Olivier de Vrée’s (1596-1652) compendium of seals of the Counts of Flanders, a volume notable both for its antiquarian rigor – the work remains a standard reference on the subject – and for its some 300 copperplate engravings meticulously cataloguing the development of seals from the establishment..... More
Extremely rare first edition of a Baroque Italian calligraphy manual for students. The present copy contains 19 handwriting and calligraphic samples, almost all ornately embellished with figures of men, women, cherubs, birds, insects, or domestic animals, in addition to a portrait of Tensini after the title-page. Tensini’s samples, mostly passages..... More
Elaborate manuscript notebook by a mid-seventeenth-century priest from Milan containing his own aphorisms, observations and quotations modeled after contemporary calligraphy manuals with unusually elaborate and well-executed figurative borders drawn in his hand, and interspersed with anguished outbursts on love’s torment in a later hand. Chiassi’s drawings, modelled from Antonio Tempesta’s..... More
An attractive example of the rare first edition of one of the earliest and most influential anatomical treatises published expressly for the use of artists, with text by the famed theorist, art historian and connoisseur Roger de Piles (1635-1709) and fine, full-page plates engraved after Vesalius by François Tortebat (c..... More
First edition and much scarcer than the second edition of 1683. "Troili, a pupil of the quadratura painter Michelangelo Colonna, became scene painter for the Farnese theatre at Parma. Ferdinando Bibiena saw his work there (probably after the artist's death) and absorbed its influence. This original edition of Troili's exceptionally..... More
Very rare Spanish legal document concerning tithes certified between the Archbishop of Granada, Alonso Bernardo de los Rios y Guzman (served 1677-92), and the Prior of the Carthusian monastery of Granada. While the text offers a fascinating and surprisingly detailed account of this ecclesiastical suit and is especially rich in..... More
Two rare suites of engravings depicting Pietro da Cortona’s celebrated frescoes in the salone of Palazzo Barberini and the Pitti Palace, then the residence of the Duke of Etro. Cortona was commissioned by Cardinal Francesco to create the artistic centerpiece of the Barberini palace, a fresco which is now recognized..... More
First edition of this handsomely illustrated perspective textbook. Traité de Perspective, the final work published during the lifetime of the controversial and prolific philosopher Bernard Lamy, is notable for its “interesting discussion of perception, etc.” – Kemp, p. 356. Lamy, whose interest in art stemmed from his work on geometry..... More
A fine pen-and-ink drawing and a very rare letterpress broadside, both relating to the baker’s trade in 18th-century Brussels. The drawing depicts St. Honoratus of Amiens (d. c. 600), a bishop saint who came to be especially venerated by bakers in France following the donation of land by the Parisian..... More
Rare first and only edition of one of the first, if not the first Western monograph devoted to a Russian work of art, namely the icon of the 4th-century warrior saint Theodore Straelates housed in the Rieterkirche St. Marien und Christophorus in Kalbensteinberg, Bavaria, an important pilgrimage church located on..... More
First edition of this polemical work attacking the highly controversial Réflexions critiques sur les différentes écoles de Peinture (1751), by the Marquis d’Argens, the polymath chamberlain of Frederic II, who advised the latter on a number of topics, among them art. He introduced Frederic to a number of French painters..... More
First edition – and fine copy – of Piranesi’s incomparable reconstruction of Rome’s Campus Martius, a work famed for its archaeological ambition, its graphic inventiveness, and as a sourcebook for the architectural imagination which continues to influence architectural theorists and practitioners today. “An exceptional personality, Piranesi transfigured his personal failure..... More
A handsomely bound copy in contemporary gilt calf of the rare first edition of an illustrated treatise on the two famous Marian icons housed at the church of Santa Maria presso San Celso in Milan. The Notizie istoriche intorno alla miracolosa imagine at once stresses the miraculous nature of these..... More
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Very rare example of a bespoke (and nearly) blank album amicorum from 18th-century Holland, preserved in entirely contemporary condition and complete with its original, elaborately decorated binding. The only entry in the book is its watercolor frontispiece of a putto as an emblem of painting: The cupid is posed as..... More
Only edition of this unusual volume surveying the wooded holdings of the Count of Eu, in Upper Normandy, a work comprised entirely of 40 fine, single-sided engravings, including a pictorial title page, 13 calligraphic plates of text, charts and tables, 5 botanical and industrial images, and 21 handsome, precise maps..... More
Rare, extra-illustrated second edition of an artist’s drawing manual based on the “most celebrated heads” from Raphael’s Sistine Chapel tapestry cartoons, which William and Mary had Sir Christopher Wren install in their own gallery at Hampton Court (later transferred to V & A.) Although eagerly studied by 18th century British..... More
Rare first edition of this illustrated treatise on the art of sculpture by Carradori, a neoclassical sculptor and professor at the Florentine Academy. The work considers basic tools and materials of the craft: clay, wax, stucco, stone and marble as well as the straw, wire, cloth and glue for ephemeral..... More
An attractive early 19th-century manuscript of anatomical drawings of the human (male) body, many with muscles keyed and labeled in a minute German script. The notebook is attributed by a German pencil annotation inside its upper cover to the Austrian painter Adam Brenner (1800-1891), who studied principally with Leopold Kupelwieser..... More
Rare first and only edition of a presentation work by the painter and essayist Pietro Fea da Casale (1771-1842) commemorating his designs for the ‘Scalone d’Onore’ in Turin’s Palazzo di Città (now known as the Palazzo Civico). The volume, which includes 4 full-page reproductive etchings executed by the artist himself..... More
Rare first edition of this study which attempts to identify and distinguish various Roman temples to the two-faced god, by the archaeologist and painter Piale (1753-1835). Relying largely on literary sources (Martial, Ovid, Macrobius and Procopius), the work is of interest for both the state of archaeology at the beginning..... More
Rare 1886 (2nd) edition of this copiously illustrated drawing manual from 19th-century Paris, first penned in 1873 on the eve of the rise of Impressionism and intended to help artists working outside of the academy to become familiar with the fundamentals of perspective, the wide variety of drawing materials and..... More