Description. Some decorations of noble halls and other ornaments by Giocondo Albertolli, professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. Engraved by Giacomo Mercoli and Andrea de Bernardis. 1787.
Hard cardboard binding with marbled boards. Folio (611x434mm), (3) engraved text plates (title page, dedication, text sheet), 24 engravings on (22) plates. Giocondo Albertolli was an important Italian architect, decorator, and teacher, belonging to a distinguished family of artists. His first commission in 1765 was the decoration of Santa Brigida in Parma, followed by the design of a triumphal arch based on a drawing by Ennemond-Alexandre Petitot in 1768 for the wedding celebrations of Ferdinand, Duke of Parma, and Maria Amalia of Austria. From 1770 to 1775, Albertolli created the stuccoes for the Great Hall of the villa in Poggio Imperiale, near Florence, for Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany. In 1773, Giuseppe Piermarini, imperial and royal architect in Milan, invited him to decorate the Royal Palace, while during the same period Gaspero Maria Paoletti entrusted him with the decoration of the ceilings of the Sala degli Stucchi and the Palazzina della Meridiana at Palazzo Pitti, Florence. Cicognara 393; Brunet I, 136. Catalogued by Kate Hunter.
Dimensions
Folio (611x434mm), (3) engraved text plates (title page, dedication, text sheet), 24 engravings on (22) plates.
Provenance
Private collection
Conditions
Losses at the foot, top, and center of the spine. Front inner hinge detached. Plates slightly browned. Some stains.
