Trattato della pittura … [AND] tre libri della Pittura, ed il trattato della Statua

Da Vinci’s treatise on painting, together with Alberti’s work on the same subject.

Description: 2 vols. in 1. Contemporary marbled calf. Spine with raised bands and gilt in compartments, with red morocco label lettered in gilt. Folio: 35 × 24 cm; pp.: Frontispiece, [4]ll., 115; [4]ll., 55; [4]ll. With 2 engraved full-page portraits, title page with engraved vignette, 6 headpieces, 1 tailpiece and 73 engravings in the text and 6 engraved initials by Fran[cesco] Sesoni (1704–after 1733). Red-dyed edges. Second Edition of the work, which was first published in print in 1651.

Ref.: Brunet V, 1258; Graesse VII, 327

Provenance: Bookplate to front pastedown of Swiss painter Ernst Linck (1874–1935).

Condition: Occasional scuff to extremities and covers, corners bumped, spine ends show some minor rubbing, joints sound. Little worming to front pastedown. Contents with occasional minor blemish, some leaves dusty or toned, occasional foxing, mostly peripheral.

Notes: Da Vinci’s treatise remained unpublished for more than 150 years, circulating only in various transcripts until it was published by Jacques Langlois, Paris, in 1651. The Trattato della Pittura was probably completed as early as 1498, but no final version in Leonardo’s own hand has survived. It is therefore assumed that the present version was completed at a later date. The second part contains Leon Battista Alberti’s (1404–1472) treatise on painting and sculpture. The volume concludes with a short biography, Vita de Lionardo da Vinci, written by Rafaelle du Fresne.

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Bibliography:
Brunet, Jacques-Charles: Manuel du Libraire et de l'amateur de livres. Rosenkilde et Bagger, Kopenhagen, 1966
Graesse, Jean George Theodore: Tresor de Livres Rares et Precieux (…). Martino, Cambridge, Mass., 1993