VASARI, Giorgio - Lot 11

VASARI, Giorgio Le vite de piu eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori Florence, Giunta, 1568 ONE OF THE FINEST COPIES KNOWN TODAY, WITH WIDE MARGINS AND BOUND IN CONTEMPORARY VELLUM. THE FINEST EDITION OF VASARI'S LIVES: THE ORIGIN OF ART HISTORY BY THE INVENTOR OF THE WORD "RENAISSANCE PMM 88. FORMER FAIRFAX MURRAY AND ARTHUR VERSHBOW COLLECTIONS FIRST ILLUSTRRATED EDITION, dedicated to Cosimo de' Medici 3 volumes in-4 (236 x 164mm). Title in woodcut architectural frames, with Medici arms at head, and vignette depicting Florence COLLATION according to Mortimer: volume I: A-B4 +-5+4 A-Z4 2A-Z4 3A-T4 3V2; volume II: *-5*4 a-z4 2A-Z4 3A2; volume III: A2 +-5+4 a-e4 3A3 4A-Q4 4R2 4S-Z4 5A-Z4 6A-H4 (6H4 blank) CONDITION as per Mortimer: last line of folio K4v (volume I) omitted and struck after printing the page, handwritten corrections: "Fiorentinore" (volume I, f. 2T3r), "gradito" (volume III, f. 5Y3r), artist's name corrected (volume III, f. 3R4r) ILLUSTRATION: portrait of Vasari in B4v (volume I), repeated in 6D1v (volume III), 144 portraits of artists in medallions and frames of female figures representing the arts UNIFORM CONTEMPORARY BINDINGS. Soft vellum with flaps, titling in ink on spine PROVENANCE: Di me Girolamo Perelli, 1766: ex-libris signature and date on the title page of the first volume. Girolamo Perelli (1742-1811), from a noble family of Arezzo, librarian of the Fraternité dei Laici of Arezzo founded in the 13th century, son of Zanobi Perelli, and nephew of the mathematician Tommaso Perelli (1704-1783). He probably affixed title and author's name on the spines of the volumes, in brown ink -- Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919) -- Edward W. Forbes, 1905 (signature, date and inscription on the first endpaper: "purchased from C[harles] F[airfax] M[urray] -- Bernard Quaritch, 1972 -- Arthur and Charlotte Vershbow (New York, April 9, 2013, no. 47) Top margin of first leaves of volume I stained Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), born to a modest family in Arezzo, was raised in Florence. He became a renowned architect and painter, working for the Medici and the Pope. In 1550, Vasari was the first to use the word "rinascita", "renaissance", to designate the resurrection of letters and the arts back to Antiquity. The first edition of the Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters, Sculptors and Architects from Cimabue to the Present appeared without illustrations in 1550. Vasari's friends included some of the artists he portrayed in the Lives, notably Michelangelo. The illustrated edition of the Vites, considerably enlarged, appeared in 1568. The gallery of one hundred and twenty artists, from Cimabue to Michelangelo, is divided into three periods. The first begins in the mid-13th century with the Tuscan artists who, "abandoning the old style, began to copy the Ancients with zest and diligence". Giotto dominated this first phase, liberating painting from Byzantine influence. The second period corresponds to the 15th century, which saw immense technical improvements. It was marked by Brunelleschi, who designed the dome of the Duomo in Florence, Masaccio, who perfected perspective, and Donatello. According to Vasari, these artists sought to imitate nature, "but nothing more". Their works are still "dry and hard", attached to the model. This artistic flowering is inseparable from the Medici patronage of Florence. The third period, contemporary with Vasari, is that of the "perfect manner", embodied by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and above all Michelangelo. For Vasari, this was the period during which "art had achieved all that is permitted to an imitator of nature; it had risen so high that its decline would now be to be feared rather than any further progress to be expected". Vasari organized Michelangelo's funeral in Florence and designed his tomb. BIBLIOGRAPHY : USTC 862081 -- Printing and the Mind of Man, 88 ("the first modern history of art") -- Mortimer Italian 515 -- Adams V-296 -- Gamba 1725