Alessandro Longhi

Alessandro Longhi: Compendio delle vite de pittori veneziani istorici piu rinomati del presente secolo con suoi ritratti

Venice: printed by the author, 1762.  56 engraved and numbered plates. The 25 etched portraits are by Longhi himself, and, unusually, the text itself is etched rather than set in movable type. This copy is particularly beautiful; clean, wide-margined, average sheet size 49.5 x 21 cms.  Bound in a lovely contemporary yellow 'carta rustica' paper decorated in bistre and grey.  

The artists depicted in the volume include Longhi's self-portrait, his master Nogari, Sebastiano Ricci, Gregorio Lazzarini, Antonio Balestra, Giovanni Battista Pizzaetta, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Gaspare Diziani, Pietro Longhi, Francesco Fontebasso, and Pietro Novelli.  The son of genre painter Pietro Longhi, Alessandro Longhi trained under Giuseppe Nogari.  Primarily celebrated for his spirited rococo portraits, his distinctive etching technique also displays his familiarity with Rembrandt's work.  In 1760 he published his first Raccolta di Ritratti, followed in 1762 by the first edition of the Compendio delle vite de Pittori, a celebration of the achievements of 24 contemporary Venetian artists, including Giambattista Tiepolo, Sebastiano Ricci and Jacopo Amigoni, among whose ranks Longhi also includes both himself and his father.  This, the second edition, includes an additional portrait, previously used in the Raccolta.  

Provenance: purchased by Leonardo Trifrino, Vicenza 13 November 1816.  C.E. Rappaport, Rome with his bookseller's ticket to front pastedown.

 £22,000