Description: 37 x 23 cm Privately printed, 1678 From the first printing of the most ambitious Spanish architectural treatise to date, a provocative work in which the author argues the superiority of ‘oblique’ architecture to ‘straight’ (Vitruvian) architecture, and famously censures Bernini’s designs for the colonnade around St. Peter’s Square and staircase (Scala Regia) in the Vatican, and equestrian statue of the Emperor Constantine (the later spoilt, Caramuel argued, by the height at which it was placed). Caramuel’s obsession with geometry and optical distortion was treated as madness by some contemporaries; others, such as the architect and theoretician Guarino Guarini, ‘who carried on with Caramuel intensive discussions as he did with no other theorist’, took him very seriously. Intended for Spanish readers, the treatise had greatest impact in Catalonia and in the New World, where Caramuel’s ideas were spread by theologians and mathematicians, and examples of ‘architectura obliqua’ are numerous. The majority of the engravings are by anonymous printmakers: one print is signed by the Roman engraver Bernard Balliu (part 4, pl.6), five by the Milanese engraver Giovanni Francesco Bugatti (fl. 1670–1695),10 seven by Cesare Laurentio (fl. 1657–1689),11 and eleven by the Milanese printmaker Simone Durello (1641–1719). The engraving on offer is unsigned. Of great scarcity, only 24 examples are known worldwide. From the first printing of the most ambitious Spanish architectural treatise to date, a provocative work in which the author argues the superiority of ‘oblique’ architecture to ‘straight’ (Vitruvian) architecture, and famously censures Bernini’s designs for the colonnade around St. Peter’s Square and staircase (Scala Regia) in the Vatican, and equestrian statue of the Emperor Constantine (the later spoilt, Caramuel argued, by the height at which it was placed). Caramuel’s obsession with geometry and optical distortion was treated as madness by some contemporaries; others, such as the architect and theoretician Guarino Guarini, ‘who carried on with Caramuel intensive discussions as he did with no other theorist’, took him very seriously. Intended for Spanish readers, the treatise had great
Price: 358.69 USD
Location: Norwich
End Time: 2024-12-06T12:33:05.000Z
Shipping Cost: 12.9 USD
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Item Specifics
Return shipping will be paid by: Seller
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 60 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Year of Production: 1678
Production Technique: Copper Engraving
Features: 1st Edition
Material: Paper
Handmade: Yes
Theme: Architecture
Certificate of Authenticity (COA): Yes
Culture: Spanish
Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
Region of Origin: Spain
Framing: Unframed
Time Period Produced: Pre-1700
Type: Print
Brand: Unbranded
MPN: Does not apply
