PHILOSTRATE.

Les Tableaux de platte peinture. Paris, widow Abel L'Angelier & widow M. Guillemot, 1614. In-folio, olive morocco, Du Seuil decoration, numeral at the corners, central gilt cartouche, spine decorated with the same repeated numeral, gilt edges on marbling (Period binding). First illustrated edition of the translation by Blaise de Vigenère. First published by Aldus in the early 16th century, these works of Philostratus the Athenian, a Greek neo-sophist of the 3rd century AD, were translated by the Bourbonnais archaeologist and art lover Blaise de Vigenère (1523-1596) who, attracted by symbolism and hermeticism, saw in them an education for artists. The first edition of his translation appeared without illustrations in 1578. The Images, supposedly describing sixty-four paintings from an ancient gallery in Naples, are supplemented by another Philostratus, nephew or son-in-law of the sophist, describing seventeen other works of art whose existence also seems to be proven. They are preceded in this edition by a curious introduction on the art of painting and followed by Philostratus' Eroica and Callistratus' Statues. A masterpiece of the French baroque book, the work is magnificently illustrated with a title-frontispiece, 2 vignettes showing musical instruments and 67 full-page figures engraved in intaglio by Jaspar Isac, Léonard Gaultier and Thomas de Leu, 10 of which are after Antoine Caron, Primaticcio's collaborator at Fontainebleau. Each plate is accompanied by epigrams by Thomas Artus, sieur d'Embry, serving as a link between the modern image and its classical archetype. A very fine copy, bound in olive morocco with the cipher of Louis Bizeau. Central cartouche added, restorations to the corners. Brunet, IV, 620 - Inv. Fonds Français 79-96 - OHR, 486/2.