Tratise Of The Five Orders Of Architecture. Expanded With New Inventions For The Art Of Building Well

Description

The only copy existing in Italian libraries. A very rare 17th-century edition in French, the result of the cooperation of two important architects, Pierre Le Muet (1591-1669) active at the court of Louis XIII of Bourbon and Jean Marot (1619-1679), a famous illustrator of architectural subjects and author of the individual engravings. The volume consists of two treatises: the first is Le Muet's translation of Book I of ‘The Four Books of Architecture’ (Venice, 1570) by Andrea Palladio (1508-1580), the first transposition of the Paduan architect's work into French and the main source of his theories not only in France, but also in England until the 18th century. The second treatise is by Le Muet himself, ‘L'Art de bien batir’ (‘The Art of Building Well’), illustrated with 42 plates of galleries, entrances, rooms, antechambers and bedrooms, with areas, surfaces and related architectural ornaments. In the opening, an elegant frontispiece depicts the goddess Minerva, goddess of wisdom, ingenuity and the useful arts (architecture, engineering, geometry, etc.).