Ammannati, Lettera a gli accademici del disegno, Florence, 1582, modern carta rustica, Feltrinelli copy

Ammannati, Bartolomeo. Lettera di messer Bartolomeo Ammannati architetto, e scultor fiorentino. A gli honoratissimi Accademici del disegno. Florence: Bartolomeo Sermartelli, 1582

Rare. Ammannati (1511-1592) worked for Cosimo de' Medici on his programme of public works, remodelling the Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens, and building the Ponte Santa Trínita and the Neptune fountain in the Piazza della Signoria. Under the influence of the Jesuits, however, his art became more moralistic in tone and this letter expressed his remorse at depicting nude bodies in his art, despite the importance of the shape of the body in his earlier work.

The letter was reprinted in Florence in 1687.

4to (208 x 152 mm). Italic type, 25 lines. collation: A-B⁴: 8 leaves. Woodcut printer's device on title-page, woodcut initial. (Small stain around a small hole going through each leaf.)

binding: Modern carta rustica (210 x 153 mm).

provenance: Giannalisa Feltrinelli, bookplate, sale, Christie's London, 2 June 1998, lot 1091. acquisition: Purchased at the preceding sale. references: Edit16 1542