CALIFORNIA INTERNATIONAL ANTIQUARIAN BOOK FAIR

February 10th-12th, 2017

Oakland Marriott City Center - 1001 Broadway Oakland, CA

Booth 101

F l o r e n c e & the arts

From Botticelli ’s Dante to the Uffizi Gallery

CALIFORNIA INTERNATIONAL ANTIQUARIAN BOOK FAIR

February 10th-12th, 2017

Oakland Marriott City Center

1001 Broadway Oakland, CA

Booth 101

21, rue Fresnel. 75116 Paris

M. + 33 (0)6 80 15 34 45 - T. +33 (0)1 47 23 41 18 - F. + 33 (0)1 47 23 58 65

jean-baptiste@deproyart.com

Conditions de vente conformes aux usages du Syndicat de la Librairie Ancienne et Moderne

et aux règlements de la Ligue Internationale de la Librairie Ancienne

N° de TVA.: FR21 478 71 326

cahier n° 9

F l o r e n c e & the arts

From Botticelli ’s Dante to the Uffizi Gallery

4 5n° 2 : Sermartelli

“I was in a sort of ecstasy, from the idea of being in Florence, close to the great men whose tombs I had seen. Absorbed in the contemplation of sublime beauty... I reached the point where one encounters celestial sensations... Everything spoke so vividly to my soul. Ah, if I could only forget. I had palpitations of the heart, what in Berlin they call 'nerves.' Life was drained from me. I walked with the fear of falling.”

Stendhal, Rome, Naples et Florence, 1826

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[1] Dante alIGhIerILa CommediaFlorence, Nicolaus Laurentii Alamanus, August 30 1481. FINE COPY OF BOTTICELLI ’S DANTE.

WITH FOUR ENGRAVINGS (ONE REPEATED) AND SOME PRESTIGIOUS ENGLISH PROVENANCES : MARK MASTERMAN SYKES (1824) AND JOHN THOROLD (1833).

NOT WASHED FIRST EDITION OF LANDINO’S massive and so influential commentary. SECOND FLORENTINE ILLUSTRATED BOOK and the first Dante’s edition printed in his native city of Florence

Folio (400 x 267mm)COLLATION : π8 2π6 a10 b8 c-e10 f8 g10 h-i8 l10 m-n8 o-r10 s6 2a-g10 2h12 2l-m10 2o6 A8 B-H10 I6 L12 : 369 (of 372) leaves, without 3 blank leaves : π1, 2π8 and L12CONTENTS : π2r-2π3v Proemio by Landino and Dante’s apologia, 2π3v-7v Ficino’s commendation on Dante and Landino, a1 blank, a2r Inferno, 2a1 blank, 2a2r Landino’s prologue to second section, 2a3r Purgatorio, A1r Landino’s prologue to third section, A2r Paradisio, L10v colophon : Fine del Comento di Christophoro Landino fiorentino sopra la Comedia di Dante poeta excellentissimo et impresso in Firenze per Nicholo di Lorenzo della Magna a Di. XXX. dagosto. M. CCCC.LXXXI., L11 blank

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ILLUSTRATION : 4 etchings (one repeated) by Baccio Baldini after Sandro Botticelli design. The first two ecthings for the first two Cantos being printed in dark impressions at the same time the book was printed (first etching slightly cropped as usual). The two other etchings (Canto III, c2v and Canto XVII on l8r) pasted a few years later and printed in brown ink. The etching of Canto III being a repeat, in a different tone, of the etching for Canto II (Form B, of Hind classification, op. cit., p. 102). The etching of Canto XVII is in the second state with the reversed roman lettering in lower left corner (Hind, (17, II), p. 115). As this copy contains more than 3 plates, it is also part of Form E of the Hind classification EARLY 19th CENTURY BINDING. Green morocco, sides with borders blind-stamped, gilt edges

PROVENANCE : contemporary manuscript annotations on e1v and 2a7 -- Sir Mark Masterman Sykes (1771-1823), 3rd Baronet, of Sledmere House, one of the founders of the Roxburgh Club in 1818 and the “Lorenzo” of Dibdin, with his autograph monogram and ink shelfmark on endleaf : “cat. v. 1. 2 195 mms [Mark Masterman Sykes] Sledmer” -- Sir John Hayford Thorold (1773-1831 ; with his bookplates). It was lot 653 of the sale catalogue and mentioned in the Preface : “Dante, with 4 excessively rare Engravings from design by Sandro Botticelli” (Catalogue of an Important Portion of the extensive and valuable Library of the late Sir John Hayford Thorold, Baronet, removed from Syston Park, Lincolnshire, London, Sotheby’s, 1884, p. IV) Paper restoration in the inner margin of 2c10 with some letters supplied in ink ; binding restored Cristoforo Landino (1424-1504) was a Florentine poet, professor and humanist who, along with Marsilio Ficino, oversaw the education of Lorenzo de’ Medici and was inducted as a member of Ficino’s Academy. Ever loyal to the Medicis, in 1458 he was elected professor of Poetry and Rhetoric at the University of Florence at a time when the entire Republic was beginning to learn Greek. He occupied the position of Secretary of the Seigniory until 1492. Landino encouraged the study of the three great Florentine poets: Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio. He also published this famous commentary by Dante, which, in a Neo-Platonist perspective, emphasized the divine inspiration of poetry. He also wrote commentaries of Virgil and Horace. He made public Aristophanes’s speech at the famous Platonist banquet held on November 7th, 1468, which Ficino described in his Commentary on Plato’s Symposium.

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It is now widely recognized, on the basis of Vasari’s account, that the designs of the engravings for the first 19 cantos of Inferno - all that are recorded - derive from Botticelli. His first series of drawings was meant for the grand 1481 edition which was in fact never completed. But the drawing were known and, in turn, they loosely became the basis of the 1487 Bonini Brescia edition, called the first illustrated edition of Dante. The closely related drawings on vellum preserved in the Berlin State Library and in the Vatican are, however, recognized as a second version, made by Botticelli in the mid-1490’s. Botticelli left Florence in the summer of 1481, and the initial project was never completed. However he left Florence with Dante in mind as, according to Hind quoting Vasari, the study of Dante brought “infinite disorder” into his life (p. 100).

A magnificent copy with only three etchings was offered to the Signoria at that time and survives today in Florence ; publishing Dante was a conspicuous moment for the Florentine culture. The printing process (merging moveable types and line-engravings) was so difficult that, after canto 3 illustration, the planned production system began to break down. It should be noted that this edition of Dante is only the second illustrated book printed in Florence after the Monte Santo di Dio by Antonio Bettini (Florence, September 10, 1477) also printed by Alamanus and also with pasted-in engravings by the same engraver : Baccio Baldini (ca. 1436-1487). This collapse of the printing process explains why this copy has a repetition of canto 2 illustration for canto 3.

A letter from Landino to Bernardino Bembo mentions an edition size of 1200 copies of which less than 130 are known (cf. the census of A. Hind, Early Italian engravings...). Only 20 copies with the 19 plates are known, very few being in private hands - the 19-plate Otto Schäfer copy (OS 103) was recently sold in the trade. This copy is similar to the ten copies recorded in group E of Hind (1938) as it contains “three of more plates (no. 3 being pasted in) but less than nineteenth”. Excluding the Schäfer copy in 1995, no copy with 4 plates (even with one repeated) has been sold on the international or national auction market since 1977.

REFERENCES : Goff D-29 -- H 5946* -- GW 7966 -- BMC VI, 628 -- IGI 360 -- Sander 2312 -- Hind, Early Italian Engraving, I, 99-116 -- Des Livres rares, Paris, BnF, 1998, n° 13 135.000 € / 145.000 $

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[2] sermartellI, michelangeloAlcune composizioni ... in Lode del ritratto della Sabina Scolpito in Marmo dall’Eccellentissimo M. Giovanni Bologna, posto nella piazza del Serenissimo Grand Duca di Toscana

Florence, Nella Stamperia di Bartolomeo Sermartelli, 1583

ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOKS IN THE HISTORY OF SCULPTURE. IT RECORDS THE IMMEDIATE RECOGNITION OF GIAMBOLOGNA’S MASTERPIECE, “THE RAPE OF A SABINE”.

CURIOUSLY, SUCH A FAMOUS SCULPTURE HAD NO NAME BEFORE BEING DESCRIBED BY THE POEMS OF THIS BOOKS WRITTEN BY THE MOST FAMOUS LITERATIS OF FLORENCE AT THE END OF THE 16th CENTURY FIRST EDITION

4to (221 x 159mm)Woodengraved Medici arms printed on title page, numerous woodendgraved initials, woodengraved head-and tailpieces. Dedication al magnifico Sig. bernardo Vecchietti nobil senatore fiorentino dated 18 October 1583 (5 pages)FIRST STATE : first gathering of the dedication in first state with printing mistakes corrected in brown ink by a contemporary hand ; the British Library copy visible on googlebooks having these mistakes corrected in printing, this state variation unknown to current bibliographiesCOLLATION : *6 A-F4 G2 : 32 leaves, last leaf G2 blank, as usual

ILLUSTRATION : 3 full-page woodcutsBINDING : sewn in boardsPROVENANCE : Bernard Malle (ink stamp at end of the volume)

Giambologna (Douai, 1529 - Florence, 1608) was the greatest Italian mannerist sculptor. The monumental group that he created was considered by Henry Ogden Avery to be the “climax of his career as a sculptor in marble” (Avery Architectural library). It was unveiled on 14 January 1583 to universal acclaim. This colossal statue was soon called the Rape of a Sabine but it had no name when it was created by Giambologna. Raffaello Borghini (1537-1588) presents the circumstances behind this in his 1584 dialogue on the arts, which is a common book in first edition : Il Riposo (Florence, Giorgio Marescotti, 1584) :

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“goaded by the spur of virtue, [Giambologna] set out to show the world that he knew how to make not only ordinary marble statues, but also many together, and the most difficult that could be done, and that he knew where all the art of making nudes lay (showing defeated senescence, robust youth, and feminine refinement). Thus he depicted, only to show the excellence of art, and without intending any historia, a fierce youth abducting a most beautiful maiden from a weak old man; and this marvelous work, having been brought almost to completion, was seen by his Highness Grand Duke Francesco Medici, who, admiring its beauty, decided that it should be placed where we can now see it. And since figures are not brought out in public without a name, [Francesco] asked Giambologna to come up with some speakable invention for his work”

As soon as October 1583, Bernardo Vecchietti (1514-1590), Giambologna’s famous patron had already sponsored the publication of this book, which, as well as laudatory verses, contains two magnificent full-page woodcuts of the sculptures and a very accurate view of the celebrated Piazza, showing the new sculpture, as well as the others which stand there, in situ, with a key to identify the subjects and authors of these masterpieces of Renaissance sculptures.

This poems in praise of Giambologna’s Rape of a Sabine had been written by Vincenzo Alamanni (1536-1590), the Medici ambassador to the Court of France, Bernardo Vecchietti, Bernardo Davanzati (1529-1606) the translator of Tacitus, Cosimo Gaci (1550-1619) a poet who translated the works of St. Teresa of Avila, the Cavalier Gualtieri a poet from Arezzo, Piero di Gherardo Capponi co-author of Il Riposo (he died in 1586), etc. Some other laudotary poems were published in a collection of Latin verses written by Grazio Maria Grazi and published by Georges Marescot one year later.

Giambologna had made a work that was meant to be written about. Such an approach to a sculptural undertaking was itself novel, and it called for a particular kind of ingegno. The wit of the Sabine lays in part in the invention of actions that could be variously interpreted. The statue was conceived so that its action seemed to change when looked at from different angles. Scholars have long used the Sabine to illustrate the ideal of a sculpture that was ‘von allen Seiten gleich schön’ (cf. L. A. Larsson, Von allen Seiten gleich schön, Stockholm, 1974). As Benvenuto Cellini had claimed, sculptures should have many attractive aspects. And scholars have also noticed that the contemporary pair of woodcuts, published here along with the present group of poems written on the Sabine, actually shows its characters from two different perspectives. The printed images had to shape expectations for the poems themselves, many of which likewise highlight the various sides to the sculpted action. The famous statue had won its name through that book which had been conceived as a Rittrato della Sabina.

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In 1584, Andrea Andreani (1540-1623) published a group of four chiaroscuro woodcuts. It included three of Giambologna’s sculptures and one of the reliefs on its base, which are among his best-known prints. The first two of these seem to have been modeled, not from life, but after the two woodcuts of the sculpture in this book. They are the unparalleled and first attempt to represent by two woodcuts the natural tridimensional proportions of a sculpture.

REFERENCES : Mortimer Italian 478 -- Cicognara 1016 -- on the poems, see Michael Bury, ‘Bernardo Vecchietti, Patron of Giambologna’, I Tatti Studies, vol. 1, 1985, pp. 13–56, esp. 28–30 -- Avery Architectural library 12

20.000 € / 21.600 $

[3] GorI, anton Francesco.Museum florentinum exhibens insigniora vetustatis monumenta quae Florentiae sunt in thesauro mediceoFlorence, Michaël Nesteni and François Moücke, 1731-1766 THE EXCEPTIONAL DEDICATION COPY, BEARING THE ARMS OF LEOPOLD II OF HABSBURG-LORRAINE, GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY, FUTURE EMPEROR OF GERMANY.

THE BIRTH OF ONE OF EUROPE’S GREATEST MUSEUMS.

MONUMENTAL ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE OF THE MEDICI COLLECTIONS. FIRST VISUAL RECORD OF THE FUTURE UFFIZI GALLERY.

ELEVEN VOLUMES BOUND IN FULL CONTEMPORARY RED MOROCCO.

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FIRST EDITIONS

12 parts in 11 folio volumes (453 x 362mm)Titres imprimés en rouge et noir. Vignettes, bandeaux, initiales et culs-de-lampe gravésCOLLATION : Gemmae antiquae, [1731-1732], vol. 1-2 : LII-185-pp., (9) ff., XXXVI-158 pp., (9) ff ; Statuae antiquae, [1734], vol. 3 : XXXV-111 pp ; Antiqua numistata, [1740-1752], vol. 4-6 : XII pp., (1) f., XXXX-205 pp., (1) f., LII-274 pp., (1) f. ; Serie di ritratti degli eccellenti pittori, [1752-1762], vol. 7-10 : XV-274 pp., (1) f., VII-313 pp., (1) f., VII-326 pp., (1) f., VII-313 pp. ; Serie di ritratti dei celebri pittori, [1765-1766], vol. 11 : (3) ff., IV-L pp., (3) ff., LVIII, (3) ff., L pp., (2) ff., LVIII pp.ILLUSTRATION : 741 PLATES engraved after the drawings of Giovanni Domenico Campiglia, Giovanni Domenico Ferretti and Antonio Pazzi. It includes : Gemmae antiquae : 200 plates ; Statuae antiquae : 100 plates ; Antiqua numistata : 121 plates ; Serie di ritratti degli eccellenti pittori : 220 plates ; Serie di ritratti dei celebri pittori : 100 plates

CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN AND UNIFORM BINDINGS. Red morocco, gilt décor, arms on sides, borde, flat spines gilt, gilt edgesPROVENANCE : Pierre-Léopold of Habsburg-Lorraine (1747-1792), Grand Duke of Toscany under the name of Léopold I (1765-1790 ; arm), crown Emperor of Germany in 1790 Anton Francesco Gori (1691-1757) was a Florentine scholar, a priest and an antiquarian. He devoted many studies to Roman antiquities and was an expert on the Etruscan civilization, a subject he also extensively wrote about. In 1735 he was a founding member of the Società Colombaria, a circle of scholars which later became the Accademia Toscana di Scienze e Lettere la Colombaria. His masterpiece was the direction and publication of Museum florentinum, which first described the sculptures and antiquities of the Medici collection.

This illustrated catalogue is the first attempt at compiling a visual record of the Medici collections. It was born at the urge of several Florentine noblemen and antiquarians, who wished to put together an inventory of the treasuries owned by the Grand Dukes of Tuscany along with some pieces belonging to a few of the city of Florence’s private collections. Gori oversaw the project under the protection of Cardinal Neri Maria Corsini, who belonged to one of Italy’s most inf luential princely families, owning many famous collections.

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The publication of Museum Florentinum spread over thirty-five years, from 1731 to 1766. Thanks to the erudite essays featured in the first volumes, Gori soon gained a European reputation. Gori entrusted Giovanni Domenico Campiglia, a Florentine painter and engraver, with the task of drawing and engraving the works for the catalogue. Pope Clement XII, impressed with Campiglia’s precision and skill, brought him to Rome.

The first part of Museum Florentinum features gems and cameos; the second part describes sculptures; the third part is devoted to medals and coins; and the last part includes three hundred and twenty portraits of the greatest European artists: painters, engravers, architects, and so on. In 1675, Cosimo III de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1670 to 1723, inherited this large portrait gallery, which included the famous collection of painter self-portraits put together by his uncle, Cardinal Leopoldo de’ Medici (1617-1675). Incidentally, the Cardinal had assembled the collection of self-portraits displayed in the Vasari Corridor. In order to make room for all these artworks, Cosimo III had the famous “Room of self-portraits” (“Sala degli autoritratti” ) built in 1681. The portraits were what made the Medici collection so renowned and unique. Indeed, it was under Cosimo III’s reign that the Gallery began its real transformation: originally a curiosity cabinet, it was then designed as a genuine museum of arts and antiquities. Cosimo III was the first to envision this place as the best location to gather and display the Medici’s wealth.

Museum Florentinum had three consecutive dedicatees. The first three volumes were decicated to Gian Gastone de’ Medici (1723-1737), son of Cosimo III and last Medicean Grand Duke of Tuscany. He showed little concern for his family’s posterity and died without heirs. Upon his death, the question of his succession became a crucial stake for Europe and remained one throughout the 1740s. Francis III, Duke of Lorraine and husband to Maria Theresa of Austria, last heiress to the House of Habsburg, became Grand Duke of Tuscany before eventually becoming Holy Roman Emperor, and left his native Lorraine to Stanislaw Leszczynski, father-in-law of Louis XV. On October 31, 1737, his sister Anna Maria Luise de’ Medici, sister of Gian Gastone and Electress Palatine, also heirless, had the famous Family Pact (“Patto di famiglia”) written. It stipulated that the centuries-old Medici collections would be bequeathed to the Tuscan state provided that they would not ever leave the city of Florence, thus remaining common property of all the nations:

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“Her Serene Electress hereby cedes, legates and bequeaths libraries, jewels and other such precious things (…) to His Royal Highness [Francis III of Lorraine]. HRH hereby guarantees He will preserve the collection under the express condition that it will remain ornament of the state, for the use of the public and to attract the curiosity of foreigners and that nothing will ever be removed or exported from the capital and the state of the Grand Duchy.”

The agreement was signed by both Francis III of Lorraine, named Grand Duke of Tuscany that year, and Anna Maria Luisa herself. In the eyes of Europe’s scholars, the Medici’s decline and the Habsburgs’ chronic lack of money raised fears of the imminent demise of the famous Medici collections. Thanks to Francis III and Leopold II’s savviness, the exact opposite happened.

The second dedicatee was of course Francis III of Lorraine himself, to whom volumes four through ten were dedicated. First known as Francis I, he was Grand Duke of Tuscany (1737-1765), and married Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria a year earlier, in 1736. Finally, the last two volumes were dedicated to his son Leopold II, as of 1765. This copy bears the arms of Leopold II, who incidentally became Grand Duke under the name Leopold I of Tuscany that same year, on August 18, 1765, upon marrying Marie Louise of Bourbon. He also became Holy Roman Emperor in 1790, as Leopold II. He was also the brother of Marie Antoinette, queen of France, and Maria Carolina of Austria, queen of Naples. As his reign as Grand Duke, Leopold thoroughly reformed his state’s administration and was the first sovereign to abolish the use of torture and the death penalty. He even tried to instore the first constitutional monarchy in Tuscany. His reputation as a progressive monarch, interested in art and concerned about heritage, made him an esteemed ruler in the Age of Enlightenment.

Finally, his personal contribution to the development of the Uffizi Gallery strengthened his ties with Florence. He modernized the Gallery and reorganized the Grand Duchy’s collections. For instance, he bought a hundred and six artists’ self-portraits from the Pazzi family’s collection and, in 1771, created the “Niobe Room” in the spirit of the neoclassical movement. This addition, celebrated by his contemporaries, considerably contributed to the Gallery’s makeover, to the point that Leopold II was proclaimed to be the true founder of the Uffizi. The efforts undertaken by the Habsburg family, under whose supervision the changes and acquisitions increased, thus genuinely helped the collections take shape.

Museum Florentinum also tapped the collections of Florence’s major families: that of Senator Carlo Strozzi, Marquis Vincenzo Riccardi, the Niccolinis, Count Tommaso Bonaventura della Gherardesca, the Buonarrotis, the Gaddis,

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the Cerretanis, the Pazzis, Cardinal Giovanni Antonio Guadagni, the Vettoris and the Giannis. One should also mention the Riccardis: Marquis Vincenzo Riccardo, who had been at the head of the family since 1728, was a passionate collector and considerably enriched the collections with paintings, manuscripts and printed books. He was also an art dealer, selling paintings, books and jewelry.

Among the most remarkable sculptures presented in the second part, Statuae antiquae, one can admire the celebrated Sleeping Hermaphroditus (pl. XL-XLI, vol. 3), which has been kept at the Louvre since 1807; the famous Marsyas (pl. XIII, vol. 3), which ornated the Medici gardens in Rome; and a marble statue of Venus (pl. XXVI-XXIX, vol. 3) mostly known as Venus de Medici, which is still kept at the Uffizi Gallery. The statue was in Rome, at the Medici villa. A true “miracle of art,” it was moved to Florence in 1677 and became a major leg on the itinerary of the Grand Tour.

In the summer of 1764, the English historian Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) acknowledged the importance of Gori’s catalogue after reading one volume: “I would be pleased to be able to acquire it” (Gibbon’s Journey from Geneva to Rome). The following year, the astronomer and traveler Jérôme Lalande (1732-1807), author of the most famous Italian guidebook, bought all the published volumes, advising readers and visitors to buy a copy in Florence rather than in Paris, where the price was much higher (Voyage d’un françois en Italie). The Swedish philosopher, Hellenist and Orientalist Jakob Jonas Björnståhl (1731-1779) considered Gori’s Museum Florentinum the best guide to the Uffizi (Lettere ne’ suoi viaggi stranieri).

This thirty-year work thus encapsulates no less than the birth of the Uffizi Gallery. It officially opened its doors to the public in 1765, the year the penultimate volume was published and Leopold II married Maria Louise of Bourbon. The administrative reorganization which took place in 1769 marked the definitive autonomy of the Gallery and made it a genuine museum of arts and antiquities, open to the public. The Gallery thus became one of the long-lasting epicenters of European culture.

REFERENCES : E. Vinet, Bibliographie méthodique et raisonnée des Beaux Arts, II, 1515 -- L. Cicognara, Catalogo ragionato dei libri d’arte e d’antichità, II, 3417 -- J.-C. Brunet, Manuel du libraire, II, 1670 -- Abbé F.-V. Mulot, Le Museum de Florence, Paris, 1787 -- M. Huber, Notice générale des Graveurs, Dresde-Leipzig, 1787, p. 106 -- M. Huber, Manuel des Curieux et des Amateurs de l’Art, Zürich, 1800, p. 123 -- C. Paul (dir.), The First Modern Museums of Art, Los Angeles, Getty Museum, 2012, pp. 77-107 -- G. di Pasquale, Uffizi. The Ancient Sculptures, Florence, 2001 -- J. Boutier (dir.), Naples, Rome, Florence. Une histoire comparée des milieux intellectuels italiens (XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles), Rome, 2005 45.000 € / 48.000 $

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[4] BIanchI, Giuseppe.Ragguaglio delle Antichità e Rarità che si conservano nella Galleria Mediceo-Imperiale di FirenzeFlorence, nella Stamperia Imperiale, 1759 FIRST POCKET GUIDEBOOK TO THE UFFIZI GALLERY

FIRST EDITION

8vo (183 x 127mm)Printer’s device on titlepage. Woodengraved initials, head- and tailpieces. The titlepage with the words “Parte I”, but the sole ever publishedCOLLATION : XIV-236 pp., (1) l.ORIGINAL GREY BOARDS Split on p. 117 ; binding very slightly soiled The Bianchis were a famous custodian family, as several generations had held this position at the Uffizi Gallery since 1580. Giuseppe Bianchi (ca 1720-1779) was the last member of the Bianchis to hold the title, from 1754 until his death. In 1759 he published the very first Italian-language little pocket guidebook, designed as a response to Anton Francesco Gori’s Museum florentinum, which was then in the process of being published. The book conveys the Bianchis’ loyalty towards the Medici, testifying to their two-century long family devotion.

The book starts with a description of the edifice and subsequently continues with a tour of twelve rooms, focusing on a few of the key masterpieces featured in the Uffizi Gallery, including the famous Medici Venus (to which Bianchi devoted six pages), the Sleeping Hermaphroditus, the Faun and Priapus.

REFERENCES : L. Cicognara, Catalogo ragionato dei libri d’arte e d’antichità, II, 4202 -- C. Paul (dir.), The First Modern Museums of Art, Los Angeles, Getty Museum, 2012, p. 82-84, 89-96 800 € / 865 $

Au format

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[5] PellI BencIVennI, Giuseppe.Saggio istorico della Real Galleria di FirenzeFlorence, G. Cambiagi, 1779 MONOGRAPHY OF THE UFFIZI GALLERY BY ONE OF THE MOST ERUDITE FLORENTINES OF THE TIME

FIRST EDITION

2 volumes, 8vo (191 x 133mm)COLLATION : XIV-460 pp. and (2)-310 pp.ILLUSTRATION : one folding plan of the Gallery of the Uffizi drawn by Benvenuti and engraved by Giovanni Canocchi

ORIGINAL YELLOW PRINTED BOARDS. UncutPROVENANCE : Giannalisa Feltrinelli (ex-libris ; New York, VI, June 2, 1998)

Very pale soiling on p. 13 to 16 in vol. 2. Spines repaired Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1729-1809) was a versatile Florentine scholar and essayist; he held several positions within the Grand Duchy’s administration, including the prestigious title of Director of the Uffizi Gallery from 1775 to 1793. He left numerous written works on art and culture, as well as an astonishing eighty-volume popular chronicle entitled Ephemerides, on Florentine society in the second half of the 18th century. He is also famous for his biography of Dante, Memorie per servire alla vita di Dante Alighieri ed alla storia della sua famiglia.

Bencivenni was an early and determined advocate of the reformist policies initiated by Grand Duke Leopold II of Habsburg between 1765 and 1790. This monography is of course dedicated to Leopold II. It includes a history of the art

collections, a description and an inventory of the works and a catalogue of the medals, coins and gems. Unlike Giuseppe Bianchi’s guide, published twenty years earlier, Bencivenni’s work is specific and comprehensive: each room, numbered on the engraved map, is meticulously described. The second volume is exclusively devoted to the cataloguing of the works. Thanks to the release of this historical and artistic essay, Bencivenni became one of the main actors of the Gallery’s modern organization. Giannalisa Gianzana Feltrinelli (1881-1981) was the mother of the famous Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli. This knowledgeable bibliophile’s library was scattered across New York, London, Rome and Paris in seven instalments between 1997 and 2001.

REFERENCE : L. Cicognara, Catalogo ragionato dei libri d’arte e d’antichità, II, 4217 : “buona descrizione storica della Galleria” 1.500 € / 1.600 $

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21, rue Fresnel. 75116 ParisM. + 33 (0) 6 80 15 34 45 - T. + 33 (0) 1 47 23 41 18

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21, rue Fresnel. 75116 ParisM. + 33 (0) 6 80 15 34 45 - T. + 33 (0) 1 47 23 41 18

F. + 33 (0) 1 47 23 58 65jean-baptiste@deproyart.com