Bonhams 1793 : LOMAZZO (GIOVANNI PAOLO) A Tracte Containing the Artes of Curious Paintinge, Carvinge, illus. after Durer, Oxford, 1598

A Tracte Containing the Artes of Curious Paintinge, Carvinge, & Buildinge written first in Italian by Jo: Paul Lomatius, painter of Milan, first English edition, translated by Richard Haydock, engraved title incorporating portraits of Lomazzo and Haydocke, 13 full-page engraved illustrations (some after Dürer, one shaved just touching image), numerous woodcut initials and typographical ornaments, large woodcut device on colophon (this and title laid down, the latter cut to size), dedication leaf shorter (?from another copy), repairs to following 5 preliminary leaves (without loss of text), blindstamp on title and one other leaf, contemporary calf, rebacked, covers detached [STC 16698; Harris 519], folio (262 x 180mm.), [Oxford, Joseph Barnes for R. H[aydock], 1598]

Sold for £6,875 inc. premium

Footnotes

The first English edition of an important Mannerist treatise by the Italian architect Lomazzo, first published in Milan in 1584, and translated by Richard Haydock, a friend of the dedicatee Thomas Bodley. Illustrated with plates after Albrecht Dürer, it provides an analysis of the laws of colour, proportion, form, movement, light, perspective and the practice of painting. "The Tracte was in all respects an Oxford product. It was printed for Haydocke by the university printer, Joseph Barnes, and was one of the earliest books to be presented to the Bodleian" (Harris).

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