Descrizione

AVEROLDO GIULIO ANTONIO – Le scelte pitture di Brescia additate al forestiere. Brescia, dalle stampe di Gian-Maria Rizzardi, 1700.

4to (242×175 mm.), original ‘carta rustica’ pasteboard, a clean, genuine copy with deckle edges, untrimmed (a few small margin tears, leaves B3, C3, and M3 with an original paper flaw in the lower blank margin, already present in the original paper sheet used for the print, no loss of text). Engraved vignette at title, engr. heading and capital letter at 2nd leaf, pp. (20), 292, 4 ff. nn. at the end, engraved illustrations at p. 278 and at f. O1 of last quire, depicting a bas-relief and a marble tombstone (with epigraphic inscription), the latter found in a local church said to be built by order of Charlemagne.

First edition

of this rare guide to the art treasures held in the town of Brescia (in Lombardy, north of Italy), “sontuosa e lussuosamente stampata … ancor nello stile del Seicento e che rivela il gusto barocco; alla fine vi sono anche le descrizioni della notevole galleria privata del Conte Lana e della raccolta di antichita’ dell’autore” (Schlosser). In the last part of the volume there is a description of the private collection of paintings by Count Lana Terzi, which includes works by Pietro da Cortona, Guido Reni, Tintoretto, Pordenone, Parmigianino, Caravaggio, Giorgione and others. This description is of particular interest in the reconstruction of the history of the collection, as the items are described according the layout of the collection, as displayed in the individual private rooms. At the end we find the catalogue of the marbles and inscriptions owned by the author himself, who was a collector, too. At the head of the preface, dedicated to Pietro Morosini, a beautiful engraved vignette by G. Abbiati depicting the victory over the Turks conquered by Francesco Morosini, commander of the troops of the Republic of Venice and uncle of the dedicatee, in 1687. According Cicognara, a curious peculiarity of this book is that has been written without using the word ‘che’: “La singolarità di questo libro, veramente bizzarro, di essere interamente stato scritto dal principio alla fine senza far uso della parola “che”. Ci notato per anche eccellente per le notizie” (Cicognara 4184); Fossati Bellani 2100; Schlosser Magnino, pp. 551 – 569; Lozzi 924. Peroni, Biblioteca Bresciana I, 61: “Averoldo raccolse libri, iscrizioni lapidarie e medaglie e fu intendentissimo di pittura”.