ANDROUET DU CERCEAU, Jacques (ca. 1520-1586). Liber de eo picturae genere quod grottesche vocant Itali . [Suite of etched ornament designs]. Orlans, 1550. 4 o (171 x 118 mm). 51 unsigned and unnumbered etchings, printed on rectos only, including first leaf containing etched author's preface to the readers (in lieu of a title) within ornamental architectural border. Plate 24 is an earlier state of pl. 45. The plates neatly numbered in pencil. (Occasional light foxing, small printer's smudge to upper border of plate 7, a few plates faintly printed). 19th-century Jansenist red morocco by Hardy-Mennil, turn-ins gilt, gilt edges (minor wear to extremities). Provenance : Edward Arnold (armorial bookplate). FIRST EDITION of Androuet du Cerceau's "Grotesques" or "Arabesques," names applied to his series of ornament prints incorporating the classic elements of the grotesque: geometrical or architectural arrangements of garlands, foliate scrolls, lines and straps, ribbons, vases, bas-reliefs, and a variety of fanciful semi-human or otherwise hybrid creatures. The grotesque became one of the most popular forms of ornament in Europe following the discovery in 1480 of wall paintings incorporating similar designs in the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea in Rome, and the earliest prints in this style appeared in the first years of the 16th century. Androuet du Cerceau was instrumental in popularizing the style in France, with his sets of "grotesque" prints, which combined existing compositions with his own inventions. As explained in the preface to his 1566 folio edition, Androuet copied some of his grotesque designs -- intended for the use of goldsmiths, painters, stonecutters, and other craftsmen -- from the chteau at Monceaux-en-Brie; others were inspired by the ceiling of the Gallery of Ulysses at Fontainebleau, since destroyed, and yet others were copied from earlier Italian prints, by Peregrino da Cesena, Agostini Musi, Nicoletto da Modena, Enea Vico (plate 20 being based on Vico's own copies of a series of 20 anonymous Italian plates of the 1530s), and others. This first edition, which is variously described as containing 50, 51 or 54 plates, was followed by an enlarged edition in the same format, containing 10 new etchings, in 1562. Bound suites of these smaller format etchings often combine prints from the two editions, which differ, according to Destailleur, very slightly in size. In 1566 a set of 36 large format plates was published under the title Livre de grotesques , with a preface and dedication to Rene of France, duchess of Ferrara and of Chartres. All editions are RARE. Brunet I:282 and Supplement I:422; Geymller, Les Du Cerceau , Paris 1887; Le Blanc I:46,285; cf. The French Renaissance in Prints from the Bibliothque Nationale de France (New York 1994), 123.
ANDROUET DU CERCEAU, Jacques (ca. 1520-1586). Liber de eo picturae genere quod grottesche vocant Itali . [Suite of etched ornament designs]. Orlans, 1550. 4 o (171 x 118 mm). 51 unsigned and unnumbered etchings, printed on rectos only, including first leaf containing etched author's preface to the readers (in lieu of a title) within ornamental architectural border. Plate 24 is an earlier state of pl. 45. The plates neatly numbered in pencil. (Occasional light foxing, small printer's smudge to upper border of plate 7, a few plates faintly printed). 19th-century Jansenist red morocco by Hardy-Mennil, turn-ins gilt, gilt edges (minor wear to extremities). Provenance : Edward Arnold (armorial bookplate). FIRST EDITION of Androuet du Cerceau's "Grotesques" or "Arabesques," names applied to his series of ornament prints incorporating the classic elements of the grotesque: geometrical or architectural arrangements of garlands, foliate scrolls, lines and straps, ribbons, vases, bas-reliefs, and a variety of fanciful semi-human or otherwise hybrid creatures. The grotesque became one of the most popular forms of ornament in Europe following the discovery in 1480 of wall paintings incorporating similar designs in the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea in Rome, and the earliest prints in this style appeared in the first years of the 16th century. Androuet du Cerceau was instrumental in popularizing the style in France, with his sets of "grotesque" prints, which combined existing compositions with his own inventions. As explained in the preface to his 1566 folio edition, Androuet copied some of his grotesque designs -- intended for the use of goldsmiths, painters, stonecutters, and other craftsmen -- from the chteau at Monceaux-en-Brie; others were inspired by the ceiling of the Gallery of Ulysses at Fontainebleau, since destroyed, and yet others were copied from earlier Italian prints, by Peregrino da Cesena, Agostini Musi, Nicoletto da Modena, Enea Vico (plate 20 being based on Vico's own copies of a series of 20 anonymous Italian plates of the 1530s), and others. This first edition, which is variously described as containing 50, 51 or 54 plates, was followed by an enlarged edition in the same format, containing 10 new etchings, in 1562. Bound suites of these smaller format etchings often combine prints from the two editions, which differ, according to Destailleur, very slightly in size. In 1566 a set of 36 large format plates was published under the title Livre de grotesques , with a preface and dedication to Rene of France, duchess of Ferrara and of Chartres. All editions are RARE. Brunet I:282 and Supplement I:422; Geymller, Les Du Cerceau , Paris 1887; Le Blanc I:46,285; cf. The French Renaissance in Prints from the Bibliothque Nationale de France (New York 1994), 123.
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