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Containing the first 'edition' ever of Leonardo da Vinci's Treatise on Painting, now known as the 'Libro di pittura'

ACCOLTI, Pietro.
Lo inganno de gl'occhi, prospettiva pratica. Trattato in acconcio della pittura.

With large engraved vignette with the coat-of-arms of Cardinal Carlo de Medici on title, woodcut printer's device on the recto of the last leaf, and 92 woodcut figures, diagrams and perspectival illustrations, including a staircase and a lute in text, 7 of which are full-page; woodcut head- and tail-pieces and initials.

With large engraved vignette with the coat-of-arms of Cardinal Carlo de Medici on title, woodcut printer's device on the recto of the last leaf, and 92 woodcut figures, diagrams and perspectival illustrations, including a staircase and a lute in text, 7 of which are full-page; woodcut head- and tail-pieces and initials.

With large engraved vignette with the coat-of-arms of Cardinal Carlo de Medici on title, woodcut printer's device on the recto of the last leaf, and 92 woodcut figures, diagrams and perspectival illustrations, including a staircase and a lute in text, 7 of which are full-page; woodcut head- and tail-pieces and initials.

With large engraved vignette with the coat-of-arms of Cardinal Carlo de Medici on title, woodcut printer's device on the recto of the last leaf, and 92 woodcut figures, diagrams and perspectival illustrations, including a staircase and a lute in text, 7 of which are full-page; woodcut head- and tail-pieces and initials.

With large engraved vignette with the coat-of-arms of Cardinal Carlo de Medici on title, woodcut printer's device on the recto of the last leaf, and 92 woodcut figures, diagrams and perspectival illustrations, including a staircase and a lute in text, 7 of which are full-page; woodcut head- and tail-pieces and initials.



Florence, Pietro Cecconcelli, 1625. Folio. Contemporary limp vellum, rests of ties. With large engraved vignette with the coat-of-arms of Cardinal Carlo de Medici on title, woodcut printer's device on the recto of the last leaf, and 92 woodcut figures, diagrams and perspectival illustrations, including a staircase and a lute in text, 7 of which are full-page; woodcut head- and tail-pieces and initials. [12], 152, [4] pp.

First edition of a famous practical manual on perspective, especially of interest to painters.

Pietro Accolti (born in Arezzo? 1579, died Florence 1642) was an Italian author, painter, architect, librarian and mathematician. Descendant of an illustrious Aretine family (his grandfather was Benedetto Accolti), Pietro was librarian and architect in the service of Cardinal Carlo Medici, and a member of the Florence Academy and the Academy of Design. He is known for the present work Lo Inganno degli Occhi, a treatise divided into three parts - plane figures, solids, and shading - which is distinguished for showing how perspective practice derives from principles of visual perception. In this erudite work, he critiqued classical and modern theories of vision (including those by Witelo, Euclid, Aguilonius, Guidobaldo del Monte), and criticized modern writers on perspective for underestimating the importance of light and shadow. He emphasized the need to distinguish parallel solar rays from diverging point sources of light such as candlelight. He presented some original ideas on arranging compositions with multiple vanishing points, and on foreshortening pictures within pictures. He reproduced a perfected version of Dürer's perspective window with a frame, hinged shutter and strings. Chapters on anamorphosis and quadratura ceiling painting are typical of 17th-century interests.
Also noteworthy is his flexible attitude towards perspective rules, which he cited only to "open the eyes and minds" of students without intending to set restrictions. His ideas on unione and sfumamento (the transitions between light and shadow) have been compared to those of Pietro Testa, and interpreted as a product of the Carracci reform of color and chiaroscuro.
Extensively treated, besides all aspects of perspective including anamorphoses, are also lightfall and the camera obscura. The work is divided into three parts and elaborately illustrated with diagrams and figures.
After the title (verso blank) follows the dedication to Cardinal Carle de Medici, dated Florence 30 January 1625 and signed by Pietro di Fabbrizio Accolti (p. (3)), 3 laudatory poems to Giovambatista Strozzi, Alesandro Adimari and Andrea Salvadori (pp. (5)-(7)0, the Tavola (pp. (8)(12)); a preface id on pp. 1-2. The text is divided into 3 parts: (1) 'Del proprio obietto del vedere, et azzionisue' (pp. 3-58), (2) 'Come si metta in disegno di prospettiva il primo de corpi regolari' (pp. 59-94), (3) (preface 'De lumi, et ombre' (pp. 95-96)), 'I raggi del corpo luminoso si partono da ciascun punto della superficie di esso con diritto progresso' (pp. 97-143).

Accolti's writings testify to the 17th-century revival of the Leonardesque ideal of scientific painting. Carlo Pedretti has shown that the appendix to part 3', 'Discorso intorno al Disegno' (pp. 144-152), dedicated to young academicians is a paraphrase of Leonardo da Vinci's Treatise on Painting, now known as the Libro di pittura and that this text is the earliest 'edition' of Leonardo da Vinci's treatise. Accolti followed in Leonardo's footsteps by combining art with science and engineering projects, such as a windmill built in Livorno which was capable of moving water.

Pp. (153-154) contain two full-page woodcuts, and on p. (155) are the printer's device and the Register.
Good copy with an ownership's entry on the first flyleaf of 'Bernardini Baroni, 1714'.
Cicognara 802; Comolli III, pp. 161-2; Fowler 1; Kemp, The Science of Art, pp. 134-137.Vagnetti EIIIb13; Wiebenson III, B.15.

Related Subjects: Architecture  Art General  Perspective 

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