Architecturals, Art, Andrea Palladio, Italian, Set of 4 Antique Framed Prints, Venice, 1740s

Description

Architettura di Andrea Palladio

These plates originate from the definitive eighteenth-century Venetian reissue of Palladio’s works: Architettura Di Andrea Palladio Vicentino Di Nuovo Ristampata E di Figure in Rame diligentemente intagliate arricchita, corretta, e accresciuta di moltissime Fabbriche inedite; Con Le Osservazioni Dell’ Architetto N.N. E Con La Traduzione Francese (Venice: Angiolo Pasinelli, 1740–1748). The title translates as: “The Architecture of Andrea Palladio of Vicenza, Newly Reprinted and Enriched with Copperplate Figures Diligently Engraved, Corrected, and Augmented with Many Unpublished Buildings; with the Observations of Architect N.N. [Francesco Muttoni] and with the French Translation.” This monumental eight-volume survey was a collaboration between the publisher Angiolo Pasinell iand the architect Francesco Muttoni, who spent decades researching Palladio’s original sites to reconcile the discrepancies between Palladio’s idealized woodcuts from 1570 and the buildings as actually constructed. This edition is historically significant for being “enriched” with previously unpublished designs and for featuring refined copperplate engravings by artists such as Francesco Zucchi and Giorgio Fossati, which offered greater precision than the original sixteenth-century woodblocks.

Andrea Palladio (1508–1580)

Widely regarded as the most influential individual in the history of Western architecture, Andrea Palladio was the chief architect of the Venetian Republic. His masterpiece, I Quattro Libri dell’Architettura (The Four Books of Architecture), published in 1570, provided a systematic codification of Roman classical architecture based on his own measurements of ancient ruins and the theories of the Roman architect Vitruvius (c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC). Palladio’s work is defined by symmetry, mathematical proportion, and the functional adaptation of the classical temple front to domestic villas and urban palazzi. Pasinelli’s 1740s reprint ensured Palladio’s sixteenth-century principles remained the “central pillar” of architectural training throughout the Enlightenment.

Angiolo Pasinelli (Active mid-18th Century)

Angiolo Pasinelli (fl. 1740-1760s) was a prominent Venetian publisher known for high-quality architectural and scholarly volumes. His output during the 1740s coincided with a period of renewed Neoclassical fervor in Europe, driven largely by British and Continental Grand Tourists seeking the “Palladian” ideal. Pasinelli’s decision to publish both a massive folio edition and a smaller 1741/1746 quarto edition of The Five Orders (Delli cinque ordini) catered to a burgeoning market of architects, collectors, and connoisseurs. Francesco Muttoni was an Italian architect, engineer, and architectural writer, mainly active near Vicenza, Italy. His work represents the transition from late Venetian Baroque to Neoclassicism, which his studies of Palladio did much to promote in its early stages.

Provenance and Presentation

The reverse of the frames of each of these works bears the label of Giovanni Baccani, Galleria Artistica Fiorentini, Via della Vigan Nuova, 75 r. Firenze, a storied Florentine firm established in 1903. The labels identify the prints as follows: “A. Pasinelli, 1746 (XVIII Century), Engraving, Hand Coloured”, and are signed in ink as a Certificate of Guarantee. Baccani gained international renown as a master framer, gilder, and dealer in antique prints, serving an elite clientele of collectors and decorators throughout the twentieth century. The prints are presented in custom Baccani frames having raised square corners in the Biedermeier taste, and finished in a sophisticated faux burl. The framing reflects the high standards of the Baccani workshop, bridging the historical architectural importance of the Venetian engravings with a timeless decorative elegance.

Condition: Each print fine overall, richly and boldly later colored in gouache. Framed and matted by the Baccani workshop, Florence, over the margins, not examined out of frames. Frames generally very good, with the usual overall handling and wear, and a few abrasions restored.

References:

Fowler, Laurence Hall and Elizabeth Baer. The Fowler Architectural Collection of the Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore: 1961, No. 232/233.

Harris, Eileen. British Architectural Books and Writers 1556-1785. Cambridge: 1990.

Hathitrust Digital Library, Architettura Di Andrea Palladio Vicentino (Pasinelli, 1740-1748), Getty Research Institute Copy.

Christie’s, The Collection of Arthur & Charlotte Vershbow Part Three, June 20, 2013, Lot 629 (Delli cinque ordini).