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Property from an Important Private Collection
VASARI, Giorgio (1511-1574)
Le vite de' piu eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori. Florence: Giunta, 1568.
Details
VASARI, Giorgio (1511-1574)
Le vite de' piu eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori. Florence: Giunta, 1568.
Handsomely bound first illustrated edition of ‘the first modern history of art’ (PMM). Vasari's monumental collection of biographies of the principal Italian artists and architects of the Renaissance - the word 'Renaissance' was coined by him - including the then under-appreciated Cimabue and Giotto, was first published in 1555. This second edition is revised and expanded, adding the biographies of 28 more recent artists, including Titian, an autobiography, and a treatise on artistic techniques. The expressive woodcut portraits were designed by Vasari and cut by various wood engravers including a 'Maestro Christofano', either Cristoforo Coriolano or Cristoforo Chrieger. Although some of his histories contain apocryphal anecdotes, Vasari's work remains an outstanding authority on the artists. Adams V-296; Brunet V, 1096: 'rare et tres recherche'; Gamba 1725; Mortimer Italian 515; PMM 88.
3 parts in 3 volumes, quarto (232 x 159mm). 3 titles within architectural and figural borders composed of two blocks, incorporating Medici arms at top and with inset vignette view of Florence at the foot, allegorical woodcut on verso of title of part 1 showing the awakening of the souls of dead artists, set within the inner border block with a legend in the cartouche, repeated at the end of part 3 (6H3v), medallion portrait of Vasari on B4v, the portrait repeated on 6D1v, 144 medallion portraits of artists, set within 6 different borders of female figures representing the arts (copied from frescoes in the Casa Vasari at Arezzo), 8 borders with portrait spaces left blank, woodcut printer's devices at ends of volumes 2 and 3, woodcut initials, typographic ornaments. With the usual stamped last line on K4v (volume 1), manuscript ink correction on TT3r (volume 1), printed cancel slip correcting the artist's name on 3R4r (volume 3), manuscript correction to leaf 5Y3r (volume 3) described by Mortimer (title borders shaved, minor loss to volume 1 title border from adhesion to facing leaf, volume 1 gatherings D and E with slight browning and marginal staining, other light mostly marginal spotting, occasional light browning, a few mostly marginal wormholes, one touching a few letters of headlines at end of volume 1, small hole in final leaf in volume 1 with loss to 3 letters on recto, volume 3 with lower blank corner of fol 5♣4 restored, without final blank 6H). Eighteenth-century red morocco gilt, spines in seven compartments with raised bands gilt, Dutch gilt endpapers with gold-stamped figures, gilt edges (joints and extremities rubbed, spines sunned). Provenance: Cyril Flower, 1st Baron Battersea (1843-1907; engraved armorial bookplate ‘Lord Battersea’)—Pierre Hollier-Larousse (1878-1959; bookplate)—Giannlisa Feltrinelli (blindstamp; his sale, the Giannalisa Feltrinelli Library, Part 1, Christie’s New York, 7 October 1997, lot 110).
Le vite de' piu eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori. Florence: Giunta, 1568.
Handsomely bound first illustrated edition of ‘the first modern history of art’ (PMM). Vasari's monumental collection of biographies of the principal Italian artists and architects of the Renaissance - the word 'Renaissance' was coined by him - including the then under-appreciated Cimabue and Giotto, was first published in 1555. This second edition is revised and expanded, adding the biographies of 28 more recent artists, including Titian, an autobiography, and a treatise on artistic techniques. The expressive woodcut portraits were designed by Vasari and cut by various wood engravers including a 'Maestro Christofano', either Cristoforo Coriolano or Cristoforo Chrieger. Although some of his histories contain apocryphal anecdotes, Vasari's work remains an outstanding authority on the artists. Adams V-296; Brunet V, 1096: 'rare et tres recherche'; Gamba 1725; Mortimer Italian 515; PMM 88.
3 parts in 3 volumes, quarto (232 x 159mm). 3 titles within architectural and figural borders composed of two blocks, incorporating Medici arms at top and with inset vignette view of Florence at the foot, allegorical woodcut on verso of title of part 1 showing the awakening of the souls of dead artists, set within the inner border block with a legend in the cartouche, repeated at the end of part 3 (6H3v), medallion portrait of Vasari on B4v, the portrait repeated on 6D1v, 144 medallion portraits of artists, set within 6 different borders of female figures representing the arts (copied from frescoes in the Casa Vasari at Arezzo), 8 borders with portrait spaces left blank, woodcut printer's devices at ends of volumes 2 and 3, woodcut initials, typographic ornaments. With the usual stamped last line on K4v (volume 1), manuscript ink correction on TT3r (volume 1), printed cancel slip correcting the artist's name on 3R4r (volume 3), manuscript correction to leaf 5Y3r (volume 3) described by Mortimer (title borders shaved, minor loss to volume 1 title border from adhesion to facing leaf, volume 1 gatherings D and E with slight browning and marginal staining, other light mostly marginal spotting, occasional light browning, a few mostly marginal wormholes, one touching a few letters of headlines at end of volume 1, small hole in final leaf in volume 1 with loss to 3 letters on recto, volume 3 with lower blank corner of fol 5♣4 restored, without final blank 6H). Eighteenth-century red morocco gilt, spines in seven compartments with raised bands gilt, Dutch gilt endpapers with gold-stamped figures, gilt edges (joints and extremities rubbed, spines sunned). Provenance: Cyril Flower, 1st Baron Battersea (1843-1907; engraved armorial bookplate ‘Lord Battersea’)—Pierre Hollier-Larousse (1878-1959; bookplate)—Giannlisa Feltrinelli (blindstamp; his sale, the Giannalisa Feltrinelli Library, Part 1, Christie’s New York, 7 October 1997, lot 110).
Brought to you by
Sophie Meadows
Senior Specialist