ZOCCHI, Giuseppe. Vedute delle Ville, e d’altri Luoghi della Toscana
Florence: Giuseppe Bouchard, 1757.
£ 18,000
Third edition (second Bouchard). Oblong folio (41 x 60 cm; engraved sheet: 39.5 x 58 cm). Engraved pictorial title with allegorical scene and 50 numbered plates. Title repaired to verso but also at foot of recto just encroaching on plate-mark; Plates fresh and in excellent condition with very minor browning on some plates. Ex-libris and stamp of Rugby School on first flyleaf; documents and correspondence related to former owners included. Modern half calf over marbled boards; very slight wear. A fine, clean and crisp copy.
Magnificent work on the villas and country houses of Tuscany. The work was first published in 1744 and Bouchard’s first edition in 1754 with this edition appearing three years later. The engravings are by a range of different artists: Benedetti, Berardi, Carboni, Corsi, Duflos, Filosi, Franceschini, Giampiccoli, Marieschi, Mogalli, Monaco, Morghen, Muller, Parr, Piranesi, Seuter and Wagner, all after Zocchi.
Giuseppe Zocchi (c. 1711–1767) was an Italian painter and printmaker active in Florence and best known for his vedute of the city.
The villas depicted include Villa di Poggio Imperiale, Villa di Monte Gufoni, Villa La Cecina and the Careggi Villa. Some of the plates also show the gardens and surrounding Tuscan countryside, including views of the Arno for example.
Millard, Italian Books, 169; Berlin Katalog 2701; R.M. Mason, Giuseppe Zocchi, Firenze 1981. Hind, Piranesi 75.