A Tracte Containing The Artes of curious Painting Carving & Buildinge written first in Italian by Jo: Paul Lomatius painter of Milan And Englished By R.H. student in Physik
[Trattato Dell'Arte De La Pittura., English., Haydocke., 1598.]
Imprint
(Printed At Oxford: By Ioseph Barnes For R.H., Anno Domini, M.D.XC.VIII.)
Physical Description
[22], 119, [1], 218, [2] p., engr. t.pl.: illus.; 278 mm. (In sixes.)
General Note
Books II-V are separately paginated from Book I.
Contents
[T.-pl., dedic.] - To The Ingenuous Reader. R.H. - Iohn Case D. Of Physicke To His Friende R.H. Of New Colledge - The Titles Of The Bookes - A Table Of The Chapters of the whole volume, in order. - [Text, with illus.] - [Colophon].
Responsibility Note
The illustrations are unsigned. According to Grove they are derived from those in Dürer's Vier Büche von menschlicher Proportion (1528). According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography they are Haydock's, including the title-plate with his self-portrait.
The names of the printer and publisher are given in the colophon: 'Printed At Oxford By Ioseph Barnes For R.H. Anno Domini, M.D.XC.VIII.' - which is printed below the armorial device of Oxford University, and above that of New College.
The work is dedicated by Richard Haydocke to Thomas Bodley.
References
ESTC, S111822
On Lomazzo see: R. Klein, La forme et l'intelligible: écrits sur la Renaissance et l'art moderne ( 1970; Eng. tr. by M. Jay 1979), p. 43-88, 161-9.
G.M. Ackermann, 'Lomazzo's Treatise on painting', in Art Bulletin, 49:4 (1967), p.317-26.
R. Ciardi, 'Struttura e significato delle opere teoriche del Lomazzo', in Crit. A., XII (1965), p. 20-30, XIII (1966), p. 37-44.
On Haydock see: K.J. Höltgen, 'Richard Haydocke: translator, engraver, physician', in The Library, 5th. ser., 33 (1978), p.15-32.
J.E. Gordon, 'Richard Haydocke: physician, engraver and nocturnal preacher', in The Practicioner, 198 (1967), p.849-54.
Summary Note
Haydocke's English translation of Lomazzo's Trattato is of the first five books only - although 'A Table Of The Chapters of the whole volume' lists the chapters of the lengthy sixth and seventh books, and also mentions 'A table of the names of all the most famous painters ... whose workes and preceps are used throughout the whole Worke', which is also not present.
In his Trattato (1584) and Idea del tempio della pittura (1590) Lomazzo attempted to create a philosophy of art within a cosmology that owes something to Plato, Thomas Aquinas, Ficino and H.C. Agrippa. The seven books of the Trattato address 1. proportion; 2. gesture and expression, and planetary influence on temperament; 3. colour; 4. light and optics; 5. perspective; 6.7. perspective, and the application of these theories to composition and specific subject-matter.
Most illustrations of this English translation are in the first book, on proportion. There is also an illustration in the fifth book, on perspective. The title plate incorporates an elaborate engraved border.
Reproductions
A microfilm was published in 1949 (Ann Arbor, Mich., USA: University Microfilms International). Lomazzo's Scritti sulle arti, edited by R. P. Ciardi, were republished in 1973-4 (2 v., Florence: Marchi & Bertolli).
Provenance
The front pastedown carries the 19th-century armorial bookplate of Francis Freeling; which is also inscibed in ink, 'Secretary to the Post Office.. The First Baronet.' A preliminary leaf is inscribed in ink, 'To George Jones Esqre From his affectionate & loyal friend Frans. Freeling Oct. 20. 1837', and in a different hand, 'Presented by the widow of George Jones R.A. late Librarian & Keeper of the Royal Academy. January 23rd 1875'.
Copy Note
The margins carry annotations in ink in a sixteenth-century hand. The front pastedown carries an extract from a bookseller's catalogue offering a copy of the book for £2.2s.
Binding Note
Contemporary calf, rebacked in 20th century; spine lettered 'Artes Of Paintinge Etc. Lomazzo', 'R.A.' and '1598'.
Subject
Art - Painting - Theory
Manuals - Italy - 16th century - Renaissance
Manuals - Translations into English - Translations from Italian - Great Britain - 16th century
Pictorial works - Great Britain - 16th century