TASSO, TORQUATO (1544-95). La Gerusalemme liberata . Venice: Giambatista Albrizzi, 1745. 2° (445 x 302 mm). Half-title, engraved allegorical frontispiece incorporating a medallion portrait of the author, title printed in red and black with engraved vignette, engraved portrait of the dedicatee Empress Maria Theresa, by Felix Polanzani after Giambatista Piazzetta, 6-pp. list of subscribers, 20 engraved plates (one before each canto) within a variety of engraved ornamental borders, engraved italic argument within historiated border at the head of each canto, tail-piece vignettes, of which 5 full-page, at the end of each canto, 6-line historiated initials (2 in the preliminaries and one opening each canto), full-page double portrait of Piazzetta and Albrizzi at end, the illustrations and ornaments unsigned but engraved by Martino Schedel after Piazzetta. (Occasional very minor marginal soiling, small stain in blank engraved area of final portrait, 2 1/2-inch marginal tear to plate 6 just entering engraved border). Contemporary Italian russet morocco gilt over pasteboard, sides roll-tooled with fleur-de-lys and floral borders, leafy arabesque cornerpieces, spine in seven compartments, the second gilt lettered, the remainder richly gilt, g.e. (worming to spine causing several holes, joints and extremities rubbed). THE MOST CELEBRATED VENETIAN ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, a very good copy of the first issue, with engraved dedications and coats-of-arms in the lower borders (replaced by engraved verses in the second issue). The Venetian painter and draughtsman Giambattista Piazzetta (1682-1754) began collaborating with the publisher Albrizzi in 1735, when he undertook a series of drawings for Albrizzi's 10-volume edition of the works of Bossuet. Albrizzi went on to produce over 60 volumes illustrated with engravings after Piazzetta. Of these the beautifully printed Tasso is "universally acknowledged to be the finest publishing achievement of 18th-century Venice" (Adriano Mariuz, art. "Piazzetta", The Dictionary of Art , 24:707). Two albums containing Piazzetta's original drawings for the Tasso are divided between the Biblioteca Reale in Turin and the Pierpont Morgan Library. Cohen-de Ricci 978; Gamba, p. 285; Morazzoni 256.
TASSO, TORQUATO (1544-95). La Gerusalemme liberata . Venice: Giambatista Albrizzi, 1745. 2° (445 x 302 mm). Half-title, engraved allegorical frontispiece incorporating a medallion portrait of the author, title printed in red and black with engraved vignette, engraved portrait of the dedicatee Empress Maria Theresa, by Felix Polanzani after Giambatista Piazzetta, 6-pp. list of subscribers, 20 engraved plates (one before each canto) within a variety of engraved ornamental borders, engraved italic argument within historiated border at the head of each canto, tail-piece vignettes, of which 5 full-page, at the end of each canto, 6-line historiated initials (2 in the preliminaries and one opening each canto), full-page double portrait of Piazzetta and Albrizzi at end, the illustrations and ornaments unsigned but engraved by Martino Schedel after Piazzetta. (Occasional very minor marginal soiling, small stain in blank engraved area of final portrait, 2 1/2-inch marginal tear to plate 6 just entering engraved border). Contemporary Italian russet morocco gilt over pasteboard, sides roll-tooled with fleur-de-lys and floral borders, leafy arabesque cornerpieces, spine in seven compartments, the second gilt lettered, the remainder richly gilt, g.e. (worming to spine causing several holes, joints and extremities rubbed). THE MOST CELEBRATED VENETIAN ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, a very good copy of the first issue, with engraved dedications and coats-of-arms in the lower borders (replaced by engraved verses in the second issue). The Venetian painter and draughtsman Giambattista Piazzetta (1682-1754) began collaborating with the publisher Albrizzi in 1735, when he undertook a series of drawings for Albrizzi's 10-volume edition of the works of Bossuet. Albrizzi went on to produce over 60 volumes illustrated with engravings after Piazzetta. Of these the beautifully printed Tasso is "universally acknowledged to be the finest publishing achievement of 18th-century Venice" (Adriano Mariuz, art. "Piazzetta", The Dictionary of Art , 24:707). Two albums containing Piazzetta's original drawings for the Tasso are divided between the Biblioteca Reale in Turin and the Pierpont Morgan Library. Cohen-de Ricci 978; Gamba, p. 285; Morazzoni 256.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
