Le Più Insigni Pitture Parmensi Indicate Agli Amatori delle Belle Arti
Bodoni, Giovanni Battista
Parma. Dalla Tipografia Bodoniana. 1809 1816
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First edition, large paper copy in folio, uncut and in the original publisher's binding.
A very fine copy of Bodoni's work on the most celebrated frescoes and paintings of Parma, intended by him as a tribute to the people and art of his adopted city. Printed with Bodoni's customary elegance, the work features 59 engraved plates after paintings and frescoes. The plates are after Correggio (Antonio Allegri), Agostino and Annibale Carracci, Giambattista Cima, Bernardino Gatti, Francesco and Girolamo Mazzola, Giuseppe Rondani, Raphael and Leonella Spada among others.
The publishing history of the volume is complicated: it appears that Bodoni had wanted to publish such a work as early as 1795, had completed the text and the plates by 1809 but continued to delay publication until a suitable occasion presented itself. At his death in 1813 the work was still unpublished and his widow decided to issue it in 1816 (the dedication is dated 1816). The various bibliographies of Bodoniane cite differing issues and editions: de Lama for example offers an edition in 4to. limited to 60 copies, with a second edition in 4to. differing only in the number of leaves in the Italian 'Prefazioni' and the French 'Au Lecteur', however, while de Lama mentions no folio editions, he also lists a proposed edition in 4to. on 'carta velina' limited to 150 copies.
' ... tout ce qui intéresse la gloire de Parme m'est devenu personnel. De là le regret de voir dépérir les superbes fresques qui décorent encore les temples de cette ville, et le désir de les sauver de l'oubli qui les menace; de là l'idée de les faire graver, ainsi que plusieurs tableaux des plus grands maîtres de l'école italienne ... Ce recueil de gravures attestera de même que les Beaux-Arts ont fleuri à Parme, et les Parmesans y verront tout à-la-fois une preuve authentique de ma reconaissance, un objet d'utilité et d'émulation pour leurs jeunes artistes, des souvenirs agréables, et un titre de gloire nationale pour leurs derniers neveux.' (Bodoni writing in the Preface).
'E veramente un venustissimo libro ... e uno da'capolavori della Stamperia Bodoniana.' (Brooks).
[Brooks 1059; de Lama 185 / 186].
A very fine copy of Bodoni's work on the most celebrated frescoes and paintings of Parma, intended by him as a tribute to the people and art of his adopted city. Printed with Bodoni's customary elegance, the work features 59 engraved plates after paintings and frescoes. The plates are after Correggio (Antonio Allegri), Agostino and Annibale Carracci, Giambattista Cima, Bernardino Gatti, Francesco and Girolamo Mazzola, Giuseppe Rondani, Raphael and Leonella Spada among others.
The publishing history of the volume is complicated: it appears that Bodoni had wanted to publish such a work as early as 1795, had completed the text and the plates by 1809 but continued to delay publication until a suitable occasion presented itself. At his death in 1813 the work was still unpublished and his widow decided to issue it in 1816 (the dedication is dated 1816). The various bibliographies of Bodoniane cite differing issues and editions: de Lama for example offers an edition in 4to. limited to 60 copies, with a second edition in 4to. differing only in the number of leaves in the Italian 'Prefazioni' and the French 'Au Lecteur', however, while de Lama mentions no folio editions, he also lists a proposed edition in 4to. on 'carta velina' limited to 150 copies.
' ... tout ce qui intéresse la gloire de Parme m'est devenu personnel. De là le regret de voir dépérir les superbes fresques qui décorent encore les temples de cette ville, et le désir de les sauver de l'oubli qui les menace; de là l'idée de les faire graver, ainsi que plusieurs tableaux des plus grands maîtres de l'école italienne ... Ce recueil de gravures attestera de même que les Beaux-Arts ont fleuri à Parme, et les Parmesans y verront tout à-la-fois une preuve authentique de ma reconaissance, un objet d'utilité et d'émulation pour leurs jeunes artistes, des souvenirs agréables, et un titre de gloire nationale pour leurs derniers neveux.' (Bodoni writing in the Preface).
'E veramente un venustissimo libro ... e uno da'capolavori della Stamperia Bodoniana.' (Brooks).
[Brooks 1059; de Lama 185 / 186].
pp. (x), xxii, xxii, 7, 7. Folio. (512 x 360 mm). Half-title, title, dedication leaves in Italian and French (dated 1816), Bodoni's preface in Italian and French, engraved frontispiece and 59 engraved plates without address or signature by François Rosaspina after François Vieira (taken from the preface), each plate numbered in manuscript in sepia ink at lower right-hand edge and with descriptive text leaves in Italian and French, indices in Italian and French. (Sheet size: 500 x 350 mm). Original publisher's terracotta paper boards, paper title-label to spine, edges uncut.
#40535
