An attractive set of Andrea Pozzo’s (S.J., 1642-1709) beautifully printed and illustrated work on perspective. Present here are the second edition of Part I and the first edition of Part II; ‘there were several editions of each volume or part which were bound together or issued separately as two-volume sets over the years’ (Fowler, 251); it is rare to find the first edition of both parts together. Accompanying each plate is descriptive text in both Latin (italic type) and Italian (roman type), printed in letterpress in a strong impression on crisp, thick paper.
‘Having trained as an artist in his home town of Trent, at the age of 23 Pozzo entered the Jesuit order in Milan as a lay brother. From 1684, Pozzo was employed in Sant-Ignazio, the order’s collegiate church in Rome. He began by painting the mock dome on a circular canvas 18m in diameter, and followed it with his best known work, the fresco in the dome of the nave (1688-1694). […] Between 1685 and 1701 he designed the architecture and decoration of the choir for Sant’Ignazio, as well as the altar of San Luigi Gonzaga (1697-1699). In 1695, he was awarded one of the most prestigious assignments in Rome at the time: the design of the tombstone of St Ignatius in the north transept of Il Gesù’ (Evers & Biermann, p.138). In demand both as an architect and artist, the combination in Pozzo’s designs of a purity of line and an adherence to strict mathematics with a grandiose, and avowedly theatrical, high baroque style made them widely popular. The work was reissued many times and appeared in Italian, German, Dutch and English translations.
Provenance: From the collection of Derek Gibson (1936-2021), his name and date pencilled onto front pastedown.
Occasional, mild browning, spots of worming to final leaves of first part, not touching plates, overall in lovely condition.
Fowler 251. Berlinkatalog 4725.