L'Architettura Civile, preparata su la geometria, e ridotta alle prospettive. Considerazioni pratiche . . . disegnate, e descritte in cinque parti.

£4,000 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

The first edition of Ferdinando Galli da Bibiena’s (1657-1743) work on geometry, perspective and civic architecture, a work of great importance in the history of theatre, and a splendid piece of Parma book production; with the ownership inscription of painters Ippolito Matteini (1720-96) and his more famous son Teodoro (1754-1831) in two - presumably their respective - hands. Fowler outlines several variant issues of the first edition; the present copy aligns with ‘probably the original issue’ (Fowler 134) in the Spencer Collection at the NYPL, in sharing the Monti imprint, though unlike the NYPL copy in which all plates are unnumbered, several in this copy are numbered. Though the plates are unsigned, it is assumed that they were etched by Galli da Bibiena himself. The son of painter Giovanni Maria Galli (1625-1665), Galli da Bibiena was born in Bologna and was the first of an important family of artists. Based predominantly in Parma, his commissions, which encompassed stage design, theatre construction, and wedding decoration planning for future Holy Roman Emperor, Charles VI, took him all over Italy, as well as further afield to Vienna, and Barcelona. Indeed, he returned to Parma after a sojourn in Barcelona in 1711, perhaps for the publication of the present work. This treatise on architecture can be seen as a worthy successor to the efforts of Giulio Troili, called Paradosso, Da Bibiena’s teacher, and Andrea Pozzo in theatrical design. Da Bibiena’s most innovative contri

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