Torquato Tasso (1544-1595) - photo 1
Torquato Tasso (1544-1595) - photo 2
Torquato Tasso (1544-1595) - photo 3

Torquato Tasso (1544-1595)

Lot 172
09.12.2020 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 5 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 470205
Lot 172 | Torquato Tasso (1544-1595)
Estimate value
£ 5 000 – 8 000
Torquato Tasso (1544-1595)

La Gerusalemme liberata. 1745

TASSO, Torquato (1544-1595). La Gerusalemme liberata ... con le figure di Giambatista Piazzetta. Venice: Giambattista Albrizzi, 1745.



First edition with Piazzetta's illustrations, the most important Venetian illustrated book of the eighteenth century. All plates and the portrait of the Empress are in the first state, with the dedications beneath each plate and the rococo scrolls around the culs-de-lampes which were omitted in the second state. Andrew Robison has drawn attention to a copy of the prospectus issued by Albrizzi in the Pierpont Morgan Library, in which the publisher declares: 'Nothing will be lacking, neither in the correctness of the text, nor in the quality of the type, and of the paper: but above all I have endeavoured to distinguish my edition with the singularity and perfection of more than sixty plates, all of different designs, drawn by the celebrated Painter Piazzetta, and incised in copper by the most talented Engravers. This printing will satisfy not only the Poets, but also the Painters, and the Sculptors; and I expect that so many, and such fine ornamentations may never again be seen in any book'. 'Albrizzi's patronage of Piazzetta reached its climax in the most famous of all Venetian eighteenth-century books – the Gerusalemme Liberata ... For this book Piazzetta produced some seventy drawings' (Haskell, Painters and Patrons, pp. 335-336). At the height of Venetian book production, Piazzetta's Tasso stands out as one of the grandest examples, and a paradigm of the Venetian pastoral style. 'It is apt to consider the most beautiful illustrated book, the Gerusalemme Liberata by Piazzetta. Piazzetta proceeds from miracle to miracle – gives a bold proportion and transforms vignettes into the first real decorative etchings, which occupy a full-page' (Morazzoni). The vignettes are inspired genre scenes with shepherds, animals, nudes and richly clad Venetian ladies. The 20 head-pieces contain the 'argomenti' to each Canto. George Knox, Piazzetta. A tercentenary exhibition of drawings, prints, and books (Washington, 1983), p.168; Lanckoronska 240; Morazzoni 256; Andrew Robison, 'The Albrizzi-Piazzetta Tasso,' in: Non Solus I (Urbana-Champaign, IL), 1974.



Large folio (440 x 305 mm). Half-title, title printed in red and black with engraved vignette, engraved allegorical frontispiece, engraved portrait of the dedicatee, Empress Maria Theresa, by Felix Polanzani after Giambatista Piazzetta, extra-illustrated with an additional portrait printed on thick paper of the Empress showing her in later life; 20 plates with ornamental borders, 20 pictorial head-pieces and 20 culs-de-lampe, 5 of which full-page, full-page double portrait of Piazzetta and Albrizzi at end, all engraved by M. Schedl after Piazzetta, engraved historiated initials (small stain in leaf 2r). Contemporary half sheep over marbled paper-covered boards, gilt spine, decorative endpapers, red edges (head and tail of spine with some repaired losses, modern green morocco gilt spine label, extremities rubbed). Provenance: George Meare Tracy (armorial bookplate).

Auction house category:Books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
09.12.2020 – 09.12.2020
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.