Ridolfi, Le maraviglie dell'arte, Venice, 1648, 2 volumes, contemporary vellum

Ridolfi, Carlo. Le Maraviglie dell'arte, Overo Le vite de gl'illustri pittori veneti, e dello stato. Ove sono raccolte le Opere Insigni, i costumi, & i ritratti loro. Con la narratione delle Historie, delle Favole, e delle Moralità da quelli dipinte. Descritte dal cavalier Carlo Ridolfi. Con tre Tavole copiose de' Nomi de' Pittori antichi, e moderni, e delle cose Notabili. Parte prima [-Parte seconda]. Venice: Giovanni Battista Sgava, 1648

First edition of Ridolfi's informative and influential lives of artists, forming something of a Venetian corrective to Vasari's Florentine perspective on the progress of art. Many details of paintings and practices are recorded here; Ridolfi, like Vasari, was also a working artist, but also more famous now for his writing than his artistry.

Unlike Vasari's second and illustrated edition of 1568 (see lot 631), Ridolfi does not include portraits of all the artists described. Most of the portraits were engraved by Giovanni Georgi, an engraver active in Venice and Padua.

2 volumes, 4to (218 x 162 mm). Roman and italic type, 39 lines plus headline. collation: π⁴ a-b⁴ [2]a-e⁴ A-3E⁴ (last leaf blank); a⁴ b² [2]a-2b⁴ C-F⁴ A-Cc⁴ Ee-Ss⁴ Tt²: 428 leaves (b2 in volume 2 misbound at end). Additional engraved title-pages, woodcut device on letterpress title-page, woodcut headpieces and initials, engraved portrait of the author, 20+16 engraved portraits of artists. (A few corners creased, second leaf of quires L-T in vol.2 with small wormholes at head.)

binding: Volume 1 in contemporary limp vellum (223 x 172 mm), manuscript lettering on spine; volume 2 in contemporary vellum over pasteboards (224 x 167 mm), manuscript lettering on spine. (Vol.2 slightly stained and creased and with small defects to spine.)

provenance: Sinclair (of Dysart), armorial bookplate in both volumes. acquisition: Purchased in 1990 from Bernard Quaritch, London. references: USTC 4020096