La pratica di prospettiva del cavaliere Lorenzo Sirigatti al Ser.mo Ferdinando Medici Granduca di Toscana

Two parts in one volume, folio (420x280 mm). [4], 1-43, [1], 44-65 leaves. Collation: A4 [1-15]4 [16]6. Engraved title within an architectural border with cherubs supporting the Medici arms at the top and seated female figures with drawing instruments and Sirigatti's coat of arms at the foot. The volume consists of four preliminary leaves containing the title page, the dedication to Grand Duke Ferdinando de' Medici, a note to the reader, the index and the errata (with a note excusing errors made by the “stampatore forestiero”), of 65 numbered engraved plates, divided into two books, and a colophon leaf with the printer's device (l. [11]4r). Another colophon a l. A4v: “Stampato in Venetia per Girolamo Franceschi sanese libraio à Firenze, adi 28. ottobrio 1596”. Plates measure 285x203 mm. to 305x220 mm. Plate 44 is a divisional title for Libro secondo, a reduced copy of the border from the general title page. In book 1, there is text on the verso of all but seven of the plates (exceptions are 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 34, 43), discussing the illustrations on the facing plate. Plates in book 2 have no explanatory text and are lettered A-Y at the foot as well as numbered in the upper right-hand corner from 44 to 65. Book 1 contains diagrams, book 2 shows architectural and geometric forms in perspective. Type ornament headpiece and two head ornaments, historiated and foliated initials. Roman type. Contemporary flexible vellum (stained and worn, traces of ties). Copy skillfully washed, large stain to upper inner corner of about the first twenty leaves, outer margin of the final leaf repaired with no loss, some light staining, all in all a good copy with very wide margins.
First edition, dedicated to Ferdinando de' Medici by Sirigatti from Florence, 20 July 1596. A second edition was printed at Venice in 1625 and an English translation appeared in London in 1756.
“Leopoldo Cicognara praises the work as the most elegant on perspective, distinguished by the suggestion of a method for the transformation of certain curves that bears a strong resemblance to that employed by Isaac Newton for the same purpose. Unlike the earlier treatises on perspective published in the sixteenth century, such as those by Albrecht Durer, Sebastiano Serlio, Daniele Barbaro, and Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, Lorenzo Sirigatti's perspective is not predominantly artistic or architectural, since it is not intended only for painters or architects. Nevertheless, he does make contributions to theater design. Sirigatti's Prospettiva gives precise dimensions for his inclined stage. He is the first to mention that the full effect of the perspective frame, for instance in a stage set, can be enjoyed only by those sitting along the main axis. This is a fundamental aspect of absolutist theater that no doubt had been noticed by designers of princely entertainments earlier, but is first commented on in print by Sirigatti, whose observations were taken up more extensively by Pietro Accolti (1628). Little is known about Sirigatti. He was a member of the Medici court and connected to artistic Florentine circles through his family relations with the painter Domenico Ghirlandaio. Sirigatti was a founding member of the Accademia del Disegno and thus doubtless well acquainted with Giorgio Vasari. Though the year of Sirigatti s birth is not known, he appears to have lived until 1596 or 1597. The coat of arms at the foot of the border of the title page is Sirigatti's own. Among his distinguished students was Giorgio Vasari the younger, who prepared a study of perspective in 1593 dedicated to his teacher (but which remained in manuscript). Sirigatti was interested in the project promoted by the members of the Florentine Accademia -Cosimo Bartoli's work provides a parallel example- to broaden the uses of the vernacular. Thus his book on perspective, like Bartoli's on surveying, does not merely provide a textbook on this scientific/artistic subject, but broadens the subjects that had been tre