CELLINI, Benvenuto.
Due trattati, uno intorno alle otto principali arti dell' oreficeria. L'altro in materia dell'arte della scultura; dove si veggono infiniti segreti nel lavorar le figure di marmo, & nel gettarle di bronzo.
Florence, Valente Panizzi, Marco Peri, 1568. 4to. With the woodcut coat of arms of the Medici on the title-page, a woodcut printer's device at the end, 1 small and 36 large architectural historiated initials. 19th-century marbled-paper boards. [5], 61, [7] ll.
€ 5,950
First edition of the treatises on the arts of the goldsmith and the sculptor by Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571), one of the most important artists of Mannerism. Cellini divulges the wonderful secrets and methods of the goldsmith, designing medals, enamelling, minting coins, soldering, tinting diamonds, etc. and also the techniques of the Florentine sculptors of the `quattrocento', like those of Donatello who attacked the block directly without the use of large scale models. There is also a crucial passage on Michelangelo's sculptural technique: how he outlined the figure in charcoal on the block, made large scale clay models, and the kind of chisels and drills Michelangelo used. Oddly enough Cellini's treatises were not republished till 1731, nor translated until the 19th century. With an ownerships' inscription of Domenico Martinelli di Lucca on the second blank page, lacking a blank leaf, some slight foxing and a few marginal stains. A very good copy. Adams C-1240; Besterman, Old Art Books, p. 23; Cicognara 273; Honeyman 659; Schlosser 398-399; BMC STC Italian, p. 164.
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