[Artist's manuals] Giovanni Battista Armenini. De veri precetti della pittura

Di. M. Giovanni Battista da Faenza. Libri tre. Ne' quali con bell'ordine d'utili, & buoni avertimenti, per chi desidera in essa farsi con prestezza eccellente (...). Ravenna, Francesco Tebaldini, 1587, (20),229,(3) p., w. woodcut printer's mark on title, woodcut initials and headpieces, contemp. Italian limp vellum w. old manuscript title on spine and on front cover, 4to.

Occas sl. foxed; owner's entry in pen dated 1871 on first free endpaper. A very good copy of the first edition. "A practical treatise on design, draftsmanship, and painting technique, written by a painter from Faenza. Also contains anecdotes and other information about artists and works of art. Important for the study of 16th-century painting". One of the most important sources for our understanding of the artist's studios of the Mannerist period in Italy. Arntzen & Rainwater H33. Blunt, Artistic Theory in Italy 1450-1600, p. 139 and 148.