Traité de la peinture et de la sculpture.

Herman Uytwerf, Amsterdam, 1728

First edition of the French translation reviewed by the Richardsons and collectors A. Rutgers and L.H. Ten Kate.

Description: 3 parts in 2 vols. Contemporary marbled calf, spine with raised bands and gilt in compartments, morocco label lettered in gilt. Octavo: 19 × 12 cm; (part 1): [14] ll., 216 pp., [3] pl.; (part 2): [2] ll., 238 pp.; (part 3): [2] ll., lxxii pp., [12] ll., 759 pp. Title page printed in red and black with engraved vignette. Red edges.

Condition: Spine ends and corners gently rubbed and bruised. A short tear to upper front joint of vol. 2. Some worming to front cover of vol. 1 and spine of vol. 2. Handwritten numbering on the front flyleaf: No. 359 (vol. 1), No. 360 (vol. 2). Some leaves somewhat browned, the first 80 leaves of vol. 2 somewhat soiled at lower margin.

Notes: Jonathan Richardson the Elder (1665–1745) and his son Jonathan Richardson the Younger (1694–1771) were both great connoisseurs of Italian painting. After Jonathan Richardson the Elder had already published two treatises on the fine arts in Italy in 1715 and 1719, they supplemented these Observations on Italian Painting and Sculpture with studies made by Jonathan Richardson the Younger during an extended trip to Italy, and published them for the first time in London in 1722 under the title An Account of Some of the Statues, Bas-Reliefs, Drawings, and Pictures in Italy.