Lot 755: VREDEMAN DE VRIES, Hans (1527-ca 1606). Perspective . French text. Leyden and the Hague: Beuckel Nieulandt for Hendrik Hondius, 1604-1605.

VREDEMAN DE VRIES, Hans (1527-ca 1606). Perspective. French text. Leyden and the Hague: Beuckel Nieulandt for Hendrik Hondius, 1604-1605. 2 parts in one volume, oblong 2o (258 x 365 mm). Two engraved titles, both with letterpress text. 72 engraved plates by Hondius and Bartholomeus Dolendo [cf. Nagler I, 1757] after Vredeman de Vries, 2 engraved portraits by Hondius, woodcut initials. (Some occasional pale spotting, a few plates lightly browned.) Contemporary Dutch vellum. Provenance: acquired from Marlborough Rare Books, 1966. FIRST EDITION, Latin issue. Vredeman de Vries studied painting with Reijer Griesten and then assisted Pieter Coecke van Aelst with the decoration of the triumphal arches built for the entry of the future Emperor Philip II into Antwerp in 1549. This work with Serlio's first Dutch translator not only brought Vredeman de Vries into contact with a circle of artists and architects, but also introduced him to the classical masters. As a consequence of the religious upheavals of the period, Vredeman worked in Hamburg, Gdansk and Prague, before returning to Holland at the end of the sixteenth century, by which time he was perhaps best known for his numerous engravings, in which capacity he was far more prolific than as an artist or architect. Through his various publications, Vredeman de Vries is recognised as the "foremost among sixteenth century Netherlandish [architectural] authors... an engraver, architect, and painter of prodigious imagination and talent" (Millard, p.19). Perspective was issued simultaneously in French, Latin, Dutch and German in 1604-1605, and is counted "among Vredeman's more celebrated works... What makes this book so visually compelling is Vredeman's geometric emphasis and restraint, which results in an almost eerie sequence of unpopulated rooms and courtyards displaying his flair for compositional forms. The classical language in which his architecture is clad thus becomes timeless in its character" (Millard, pp.20-21). Berlin Kat. 4704; Fowler 432. For 1604-1605 French issue: Cicognara 867; Millard, Northern European Books 139.

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