Descriptions Of The Plates Of Fresco Decorations And Stuccoes Of Churches and Palaces In Italy, During The Fifteenth And Sixteenth Centuries

Ludwig Gruner; Jacques Ignace Hittorff

John Murray, P. & D.Colnaghi, Hering & Remington, J.Wale, and L.Gruner, 1844

[Italian Renaissance Frescos, Color plate book] 1st edition, John Murray, 1844.  Large folio, 55 x 44 cm.  Bound in contemporary red morocco over green boards.  Good binding and cover.  Minor shelf wear, rubbing.  Marbled end sheets. Top edge gilt. 46 lithographic plates (34 hand colored, 4 folding).  Light dampstain along top margin of title and some of the plates.  The plates themselves are generally clean and in very good condition.  Armorial book plate of the Earl of Lovelace.  

Grunner's monumental work on Italian frescos, during the 15th and 16th centuries revolutionized British interior design.  The work is heavily illustrated with examples of murals, arabesque decoration, ornate stucco, church decorations, palaces, monasteries, etc of Lazio, Rome, Lombardy, Mantua, Pavia, etc.  Images of the walls of the Old Ducal Palace at Mantua (the Buonacolsi and Gonzagas) as well as 'il Paradiso' the apartment of Isabella d'Este, Coreggio's Camere di S. Paolo in Parma, the Palazzo Martinengo in Brescia, the Moretto in Brescia, the Certosa in Pavia, the library of Siena, the Choir of Santa Maria del Popolo of Rome are included.  As well as an Essay On The Arabesques Of The Ancients As Compared With Those Of Raphael And His School by A. Hittorf.  <br> "According to the Preface, Part I (on Roman palaces) is largely based on J. Thurmer and J.G. Gutensohn's Sammlung von Denkmalern u. Verzierungen der Baukunst in Rom (Dresden, 1832). The engraved title plate carries the name of its source-artist, 'Bal. Peruzzi', and is not otherwise signed. In the group of plates numbered 1-30 no plates are signed by a draughtsman apart from pl. 24 (by Sc. Pistrucci) and pl. 28, 29 (by L. Gruner), but several are signed by engravers I.G.G. (or G.G.), I.Th., D. Ascani or E. Salandri. In the group numbered I-XIII, three are signed as drawn by F(r). Lose and one by A. Angelini; two are signed as engraved by E. Salandrini. Plate '46' is unsigned. The work is dedicated by Lewis Gruner to Prince Albert and to the Royal Commission on the Fine Arts." - Royal Academy.  P. Morel, Les grotesques: les figures de l'imagination dans la peinture italienne de la fin de la Renaissance (1997); G. Ronchetti, Pittura murale (1983).   Avery Library p. 414. 

This is an oversized or heavy book, which requires additional postage for international delivery outside the US.