Lot 162: D'ARCO, Carlo (1799-1872). Istoria della vita e delle opere di Giulio Pippi Romano . Mantua: [Fratelli Negretti] for the author, 1838.

D'ARCO, Carlo (1799-1872). Istoria della vita e delle opere di Giulio Pippi Romano. Mantua: [Fratelli Negretti] for the author, 1838.

2° (474 x 321mm). Aquatint self-portrait of the artist by A. Lanzani, 60 (of 62) engraved plates, most from the work of Pippi, by and after G. Viviani and A. Comerio, and after Comerio and d'Arco, by T. Todeschini, A. Guelmi, G. Viviani, fratelli Bramati, and others, many double-page, including a second aquatint by Lanzani. (Lacks plates 42 and 47.) Original printed boards (soiled, extremities rubbed).

FIRST EDITION with the four 'Sala dei Giganti' plates in early state without legends. This first monograph on Giulio Romano included previously unpublished letters and documents between the artist and his patrons. D'Arco began the work of editing in 1834. However, the public attempt to form a collection of plates recording the artist's work in Mantua was much older. Viviani's plates of the 'Sala dei Giganti' were executed in 1802. A group of artists and engravers comprising Comerio, Guelmi, Todeschini and Viviani were ready to continue with the project at the behest of the Commissione Filantropica in 1813 but their work was quickly stopped when a private citizen, Luigi Micheli, announced his intention to produce a fully illustrated work on the Palazzo Te; Micheli was given exclusive rights of reproduction for ten years. Although Comerio delineated and engraved the frescoes on the domes in the 'Sala di Psiche' in 1819, these remained unpublished until their inclusion in the monograph with the added line 'd'Arco - vita di Giulio Ro'. A second edition was published in 1842, but without the early plates. Elga Disperdi, 'Carlo d'Arco, la Stampa di Traduzione e l'Istoria della vita e delle opere di Giulio Pippi Romano', in Civiltà Mantovana Revista semestrale, Mantua: March 2005, anno XL, no. 119.

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