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

F. Ricciardo, Naples, 1733

Second edition of Da Vinci’s important treatise on artwork bound with Leon Battista 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.

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Notes: Da Vinci’s treatise remained unpublished for more than 150 years, circulating only in various transcripts until it was published by Jacques Langlois, Paris, in 1651.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.