Details
DU PÉRAC, Étienne (1525-1604). I vestigi dell' antichita di Roma. Rome: Laurent de la Vacherie, 1575.
4° (238 x 208mm). Etched, double-page and mounted on guards throughout. Title and 39 plates. (Plates numbered 7 and 32 with small old wormholes at folds, light browning to title and first four plates.) Early 18th-century English diced russia gilt, covers with decorative border composed from rules and roll tools, spine in six compartments with raised bands, green morocco lettering-piece in one, the others with elephant crest within ruled borders, g.e. Provenance: unidentified early inscription on verso of final plate; Sir Andrew Fountaine (binding).
A FINE COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION, WITH THE TITLE IN ITS FIRST STATE, before the addition of the arms of and dedication to Giacomo Buoncompagni. It is Du Pérac's greatest work and 'a key source for the state of the Roman monuments in the sixteenth century. It was reprinted in innumerable editions as late as 1773. The etchings of Du Pérac represent as no other work does the lively renewal and interest in the monuments of classical antiquity which reached its climax in sixteenth century Rome.' (Builders and Humanists. The Renaissance Popes as patrons of the arts. Houston, Texas, University of St. Thomas: 1966, p.308). Du Pérac was a French architect, painter, garden-designer and topographer who studied engraving under Antonio Lafreri for whom he engraved a number of the plates for his Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae. Olschki 16857.
4° (238 x 208mm). Etched, double-page and mounted on guards throughout. Title and 39 plates. (Plates numbered 7 and 32 with small old wormholes at folds, light browning to title and first four plates.) Early 18th-century English diced russia gilt, covers with decorative border composed from rules and roll tools, spine in six compartments with raised bands, green morocco lettering-piece in one, the others with elephant crest within ruled borders, g.e. Provenance: unidentified early inscription on verso of final plate; Sir Andrew Fountaine (binding).
A FINE COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION, WITH THE TITLE IN ITS FIRST STATE, before the addition of the arms of and dedication to Giacomo Buoncompagni. It is Du Pérac's greatest work and 'a key source for the state of the Roman monuments in the sixteenth century. It was reprinted in innumerable editions as late as 1773. The etchings of Du Pérac represent as no other work does the lively renewal and interest in the monuments of classical antiquity which reached its climax in sixteenth century Rome.' (Builders and Humanists. The Renaissance Popes as patrons of the arts. Houston, Texas, University of St. Thomas: 1966, p.308). Du Pérac was a French architect, painter, garden-designer and topographer who studied engraving under Antonio Lafreri for whom he engraved a number of the plates for his Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae. Olschki 16857.