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"Larc de Severe a Rome" (platemark 210 × 300 mm, sheet 296 × 380 mm) View larger
"Larc de Severe a Rome" (platemark 210 × 300 mm, sheet 296 × 380 mm)
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  • "Larc de Severe a Rome" (platemark 210 × 300 mm, sheet 296 × 380 mm)
  • "Arcs de l’ordre corinte" (platemark 207 × 297 mm, sheet 290 × 377 mm)
  • "Arc selon lordre salomonique" (platemark 297 × 210 mm, sheet 378 × 285 mm)
  • [1] Larc de Titus a Romme, 300 × 208 mm (sheet 380 × 288 mm)
  • [2] Larc de Severe a Rome, 210 × 300 mm (sheet 296 × 380 mm)
  • [3] Larc de Constantin a Rome, 202 × 295 mm (sheet 283 × 374 mm)
  • [4] Larc de Paule en la ville d’Alixamdrie en Italie, 300 × 210 mm (sheet 379 × 292 mm)
  • [5] Arc selon lordre dorique, 290 × 200 mm (sheet 373 × 280 mm)
  • [6] Arc de lordre dorique, 294 × 208 mm (sheet 375 × 289 mm)
  • [7] Arcs selon lordre dorique, 210 × 300 mm (sheet 285 × 380 mm)
  • [8] Arc selon lordre ionique, 213 × 300 mm (sheet 291 × 380 mm)
  • [9] Arc de lordre corinte, 300 × 210 mm (sheet 374 × 288 mm)
  • [10] Arc selon lordre corinte, 300 × 210 mm (sheet 378 × 291 mm)
  • [11] Arc selon l’ordre corinte, 215 × 300 mm (sheet 290 × 370 mm)
  • [12] Arcs de l’ordre corinte, 207 × 297 mm (sheet 290 × 377 mm)
  • [13] Arc selon lordre du corinte, 300 × 212 mm (sheet 374 × 292 mm)
  • [14] Arc selon lordre corinte, 300 × 210 mm (sheet 380 × 282 mm)
  • [15] Arc de lordre corinte, 300 × 212 mm (sheet 382 × 291 mm)
  • [16] Arc selon lordre du corinte, 297 × 208 mm (sheet 380 × 285 mm)
  • [17] Arc sus lorde corinte, 300 × 210 mm (sheet 378 × 291 mm)
  • [18] Arc selon lordre salomonique, 214 × 302 mm (sheet 285 × 382 mm)
  • [19] Arc selon lordre salomonique, 297 × 210 mm (sheet 378 × 285 mm)
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Androuet du Cerceau (Jacques), c. 1511-1585/1586

Quinque et viginti exempla arcuum

Orléans, [published by the author], 1549
This series of engravings of Roman triumphal arches composed in the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian Orders, and selon l'ordre salomonique, is among the earliest dated publications of Jacques Androuet du Cerceau, a pioneer in the production of the architectural model book. A complete set comprises a title and twenty-five plates. Six plates are missing from our group: the title, Larc dAncone, Larc de Benevente, Larc de Veronne par Vitruve larchitecteur, Larc de Suse, and Arc selon lordre ionique. The nine antique arches (the arches of Titus, of Septimius Severus, and of Constantine, in Rome; and the arches of Ancona, Verona, Benevento, Pola, Susa, and Ravenna) are mostly plagiarised from illustrations in Serlio's Terzo Libro and Quarto Libro, with Androuet du Cerceau integrating details and inscriptions that Serlio described separately. Androuet's sources for the other designs have yet to be identified.

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Subjects
Architectural books - Early works to 1800
Architecture, French - Androuet du Cerceau (Jacques), c. 1511-1585/1586
Book illustration - Artists, French - Androuet du Cerceau (Jacques), c. 1511-1585/1586
Book illustration - Pattern books - Early works to 1800
Prints - Artists, French - Androuet du Cerceau (Jacques), c. 1511-1585/1586
Authors/Creators
Androuet du Cerceau, Jacques, c. 1511-1585/1586
Artists/Illustrators
Androuet du Cerceau, Jacques, c. 1511-1585/1586

Androuet du Cerceau, Jacques
Paris (?) circa 1511 – 1585/1586 Paris or Montargis

Quinque et viginti exempla arcuum

Orléans, [published by the author], 1549

etchings, nineteen prints (from an unnumbered suite of title and 25), average size 300 × 210 mm (platemarks), individually struck on full sheets measuring circa 375 × 290 mm.

paper Orb watermark: a circle divided into thirds, surmounted by a fleuron (30 × 15 mm); countermark (observed in two sheets): a circle O tied to chain line.

provenance Hartung & Hartung, Auktion 60, Munich, 14-16 November 1989, lot 1179

Washed impressions, but otherwise in good state of preservation.

Preserved in a modern clamshell box.

Image
Model of a triumphal arch, from one of Jacques Androuet du Cerceau’s
earliest publications (plate 19: Arc selon lordre salomonique)

This series of engravings of Roman triumphal arches composed in the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian Orders, and selon l’ordre salomonique, is among the earliest dated publi­cations of Jacques Androuet du Cerceau, a pioneer in the production of the architectural model book. A complete set comprises a title and twenty-five plates; six plates are missing from our group: the title,1 Larc dAncone, Larc de Benevente, Larc de Veronne par Vitruve larchitecteur, Larc de Suse, and Arc selon lordre ionique.2

The publication seems to have been inspired by a set of drawings which Sebastiano Serlio executed in 1548, while he and Androuet both enjoyed the patronage of Marguerite de Navarre.3 According to Androuet’s declaration (frontispiece), the designs are ‘en partie de mon invention, en partie repris des monuments des Anciens qui subsistent encore aujourd’hui, tant à Rome qu’ailleurs’.4 The nine antique arches (the arches of Titus, of Septimius Severus, and of Constantine, in Rome; and the arches of Ancona, Verona, Benevento, Pola, Susa, and Ravenna) are mostly plagiarised from illustrations in Serlio’s Terzo Libro and Quarto Libro, with Androuet integrating details and inscriptions that Serlio described separately. Androuet’s sources for the other designs have yet to be identified.5

A common feature of matrices produced in the Du Cerceau atelier is their swift deteriora­tion (through heavy use or by mishandling), evidenced by the opening of cracks in the cop­per, steady diminution in size, ‘clipped’ corners, and so forth. These impressions may have been struck slightly earlier than impressions in a set in the Bibliothèque de l’Institut national d’histoire de l’art in Paris, Cote Num 4 Res 1475 (see List of Plates below).6

Impressions traced by the writer include

● Göttingen, Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, 2 M Arch I, 4291 (record) ● Hannover, Technischen Informationsbibliothek / Universitätsbibliothek, 2 Haupt 398 (record)7 ● Linz, Oberösterreichischen Landesbibliothek, iii–60888 (record) ● Leipzig, GRASSI Museum8 ● London, Victoria & Albert Museum, Prints & Drawings, E.4658–1906 (record) ● Munich, BSB, Res/2 Arch. 134 i (record) ● New York, Columbia University, Avery Library, AA V 682 (record)9 ● New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 39.95.1 (record)10 ● Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gc–5–Fol (record)11 ● Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Ed–2 (I)–Pet Fol12 ● Paris, École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, Masson 2928–1 (record)13 ● Paris, École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, LES 1601 (record)14 ● Paris, École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, 505 M 17 (record)15 ● Paris, École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, Gonse 43 (record)16 ● Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Institut national d’histoire de l’art, 4 Res 1475 (record and images)17 ● Paris, Musée monuments français, 4°1220 (record) ● Rio de Janeiro, Biblio­teca Nacional, 17.2.21 Iconografia n.418 ● Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Ra 16 And 1 (record) ● Salzburg, Universitätsbibliothek, G 348 II / G 361 II (record)19 ● Turin, Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria di Torino, RIS.10.5 (Inventario: A–14321) (record)20 ● Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cicognara. vii.471(int. 2) (record)21 ● Unlocated (ex-Hans Albrecht von Derschau; sold in 1825)22 ● Unlocated (sold in 1849)23 ● Unlocated (ex-Louis Marie Armand Bertin; sold in 1854)24 ● Unlocated (ex-Robert-Dumesnil; sold in 1855)25 ● Unlocated (sold in 1967)26 ● Unlocated (ex-Antoine Duchêne; sold in 2009)27

references Leopoldo Cicognara, Catalogo ragionato dei libri d’arte e d’antichità posseduti dal conte Cicognara (Pisa 1821), p.83 no. 471; Charles Le Blanc, Manuel de l’amateur d’estampes (Paris 1850), i, p.45 no. 70; Désiré Guilmard, Les maîtres ornemanistes (Paris 1881), p.13 (‘vingt-cinq pièces, plus le titre’); Heinrich von Geymüller, Les Du Cerceau, leur vie et leur oeuvre, d’après de nouvelles recherches (Paris 1887), p.302 (as title and 24 plates only, omitting the plate of the Arch of Constantine in Rome); Bibliothèque Nationale, Inventaire du fonds français. Graveurs du seizième siècle (Paris 1931), i, p.68; Katalog der Ornamentstichsammlung der Staatlichen Kunstbib­liothek, Berlin (Berlin & Leipzig 1939), no. 2351 (copy destroyed 1939–1945; record)

List of Plates

Roman arches

Image
■ (1) Larc de Titus a Romme
300 × 208 mm (sheet 380 × 288 mm). Orb watermark
Image
■ (2) Larc de Severe a Rome
210 × 300 mm (sheet 296 × 380 mm). Orb watermark
■ (3) Larc de Constantin a Rome
202 × 295 mm (sheet 283 × 374 mm). Orb watermark

Italian arches

Image
■ (4) Larc de Paule en la ville d’Alixamdrie en Italie
300 × 210 mm (sheet 379 × 292 mm). Orb watermark

Models in Doric Order

Image
■ (5) Arc selon lordre dorique
290 × 200 mm (sheet 373 × 280 mm). Orb watermark
Fuhring (A1), Fig. 20828
Image
■ (6) Arc de lordre dorique
294 × 208 mm (sheet 375 × 289 mm). Orb watermark
Fuhring (A2), Fig. 204
Image
■ (7) Arcs selon lordre dorique
210 × 300 mm (sheet 285 × 380 mm). Orb watermark

Models in Ionic Order

Image
■ (8) Arc selon lordre ionique
213 × 300 mm (sheet 291 × 380 mm). Orb watermark. Old inkstpot in image. Tear in margin expertly repaired. Fuhring (A5), Fig. 205

Models in Corinthian Order

Image
■ (9) Arc de lordre corinte
300 × 210 mm (sheet 374 × 288 mm). Orb watermark
Fuhring (A9), Fig. 167
Image
■ (10) Arc selon lordre corinte
300 × 210 mm (sheet 378 × 291 mm).
O counterrmark. Weakness in paper strengthened on verso
Fuhring (A11), Fig. 201
Image
■ (11) Arc selon l’ordre corinte
215 × 300 mm (sheet 290 × 370 mm). Orb watermark
Fuhring (A24), Fig. 207
Image
■ (12) Arcs de l’ordre corinte
207 × 297 mm (sheet 290 × 377 mm). Orb watermark
Image
■ (13) Arc selon lordre du corinte
300 × 212 mm (sheet 374 × 292 mm). Orb watermark
Image
■ (14) Arc selon lordre corinte
300 × 210 mm (sheet 380 × 282 mm). O countermark
Image
■ (15) Arc de lordre corinte
300 × 212 mm (sheet 382 × 291 mm). Orb watermark
Our impression is before the damage of the matrice shown in Bibliothèque de l’Institut national d’histoire de l’art,
Cote Num 4 Res 1475 (image)
Image
Detail from our impression
Image
Comparative illustration
Detail from INHA, 4 Res 1475 (f. 8)
(image source)
Image
■ (16) Arc selon lordre du corinte
297 × 208 mm (sheet 380 × 285 mm). Orb watermark

Model ‘in addition to the Corinthian Order’

Image
■ (17) Arc sus lorde corinte
300 × 210 mm (sheet 378 × 291 mm). Orb watermark
Fuhring (A23), Fig. 209

Models in the Salomonic Order

Image
■ (18) Arc selon lordre salomonique
214 × 302 mm (sheet 285 × 382 mm). Orb watermark
Fuhring (A21), Fig. 93
Our impression is before the two blemishes of the matrice shown in
Bibliothèque de l’Institut national d’histoire de l’art,
Cote Num 4 Res 1475 (image)
Image
Detail from our impression
Image
Comparative illustration Detail from INHA, 4 Res 1475 (f. 7)
(image source)
Image
■ (19) Arc selon lordre salomonique
297 × 210 mm (sheet 378 × 285 mm). Orb watermark
Fuhring (A22), Fig. 206

1. ‘Jacobus Androuetius du Cerceau. Lectoribus .s. En vobis candidi lectores et architecturae studiosi quinque et viginti exempla arcuum partim a me inventa, partim ex veterum sumpta monumentis tum Romae, tum alibi etiamnum extantibus: ut inscriptio sua cuiusque arcus indicabit. Et quemadmodum in antiquis arcubus easdem columnas, easdem coronas, eadem epistylia, eundemque ornatum secutus sum: ita a me excogitatos quam proxime ad antiquorum rationem et simmetriam iuxta suum cuiusque genus expressi. Quo fit ut omnes aedificandi studiosi nullum in hoc libro genus arcuum desiderent. Hunc nostrum laborem et industriam adiuvandis vestris ingeniis dedicatam quaeso boni consulite. Aureliae. 1549’. Reproduced Jacques Androuet du Cerceau: “un des plus grands architectes que se soient jamais trouvés en France”, catalogue accompanying an exhibition held at the Musée des monuments français, 10 February–9 May 2010, edited by Jean Guillaume (Paris 2010), p.22 Fig. 5.

2. Jacques Androuet du Cerceau, op. cit., Fig. 5 (title), code A16 Fig. 200 (Arch of Trajan in Ancona), code A17 Fig. 169 (Gavi Arch in Verona), code A12 Fig. 24 (Arch of Augustus in Susa), code A4 Fig. 202 (arch of Ionic Order, with legend ‘Dedans la frize qui est sus larchitrave se pourra mectre quelque devise au pleisir du batisseur’). The Arch of Trajan in Benevento is not illustrated in the catalogue.

3. Serlio later caused these drawings to be copied on fifty large copper plates, in imitation of Androuet’s publication; they were published as Livre extraordinaire de architecture at Lyon, in 1551. See Sabine Frommel, ‘Jacques Androuet Du Cerceau et Sebastiano Serlio: une rencontre décisive’ in Jacques Androuet du Cerceau, op. cit., p.132.

4. Text from frontispiece ‘…partim a me inventa, partim ex veterum sumpta monumentis tum Romae, tum alibi etiam num extantibus…’ (French translation by Marie Madeleine Fontaine, in Jacques Androuet du Cerceau, op. cit., p.293).

5. Similarities between one etching of a Doric arch and Andrés de Vandelvira’s north door of the church of El Salvador at Úbeda are noted by Yves Pauwels; Centre d'Études Supérieures de la Renaissance, database ‘Books on architecture: Manuscripts or prints published in France, written in French or translated into French (16th-17th centuries)’ (record).

6. Digitised for inha’s ‘Bibliothèque numérique’ (images).

7. Incomplete: ‘Es fehlen 6 Taf. [bound with] Francini: Livre d’architecture; Paris 1631’ (library opac). Louis Desgraves, Répertoire bibliographique des livres imprimés en France au seizième siècle, x (Orléans) (Baden-Baden 1972), p.75.

8. E. von Ubisch, Katalog der Ornamentstich-Sammlung: im Auftrage des Veraltungsrates (Leipzig 1889), p.4 (24 plates).

9. Catalogue of the Avery Architectural Library (New York 1895), p.286.

10. Provenance: Baron Achille Seillière (1813–1873) — Hippolyte Destailleur (1822–1893), his sale — ‘Catalogue de livres et estampes relatifs aux beaux-arts, architecture, peinture, gravure, ornementation, etc., provenant de la bibliothèque de feu Hippolyte Destailleur’, Paris, 20–31 May 1895, p.63 lot 267 — Henri Gonse (1874–1938), his sale — ‘Catalogue de livres anciens dans tous les genres… provenant de la bibliothèque de M. H. Gonse’, Paris, H. Leclerc and L. Giraud-Badin, 5–6 June 1923 (cf. Annuaire des ventes de livres, 4, p.131: 220 Fr) — Armand Sigwalt (1875–1952), his sale — ‘Bibliothèque Armand Sigwalt’, Lucerne, Gilhofer and Ranschburg, sale xvi, 27–28 November 1934, p.14 lot 97 — W.H. Schab, 1939. Bound by Petit-Simier.

11. Incomplete: ‘Cinq arcs de triomphe de la suite’, ‘30 × 21 cm (feuille)’ (library opac).

12. Provenance: Antoine Callet (1755–1850?).

13. Provenance: Etienne Tabourot (1549–1590) — Hippolyte Destailleur (1822–1893), his sale — ‘Catalogue de livres et estampes relatifs aux beaux-arts, architecture, peinture, gravure, ornementation, etc., provenant de la bibliothèque de feu Hippolyte Destailleur’, Paris, 20–31 May 1895, pp.62–63 lot 266 — Alfred Beurdeley (1847–1919) — Jean Masson (1856–1933). ‘Page de titre et 25 planches gravées à l’eau-forte, + l’Arc de Bénévent en double’ (library opac).

14. Provenance: Joseph-Michel-Anne Lesoufaché (1804–1887). Bound in red morocco by Lortic.

15. Provenance: Jacques-Edouard Gatteaux (1788–1881). Library opac: ‘reliées dans une demi-reliure de parchemin et de papier à la fin du xixe siècle’ (binding 395 × 260 mm).

16. Incomplete: ‘22 planches gravées sur cuivre à l’eau-forte, reliées en regard deux par deux dans une reliure en parchemin sans décor du temps’ (library opac). Provenance: Henriette Gonse (1905–1995), acquired in 2006.

17. Bound with Serlio’s Quarto Libro (in German: Die gemaynen Reglen von der Architectur uber die funf Manieren der Gebeu, zu wissen, 1542). Provenance: Edmond Foulc (d. 1916), his sale — ‘Catalogue d’une très importante collection de livres d’architecture’, Paris, 3–6 June 1914, lot 16.

18. Bound with suites of prints by Vredeman de Vries.

19. In an important Sammelband of architectural and ornament prints (Klebeband I.9.A.1836). Two sets of the prints are included in the volume (one is incomplete, 21 of 26 plates only). Provenance: Georg Thenn of Salzburg (d. 1592), ‘möglicherweise aus der Bibliothek von Erzbischof Wolf Dietrich [von Raitenau]’ (record).

20. Library opac: ‘Manca ultima c[arta]. – Leg. in cuoio del 18. sec.’.

21. Bound with Androuet’s De Architectura (Paris 1559). ‘The Cicognara Library on Microfiche’ (Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey, 1989), Fiche 471 (2).

22. J.L. Schmidmer, ‘Verzeichniss der seltenen Kunst-Sammlungen… Manuscripten und Büchern… des dahier verstorbenen… Herrn Hans Albrecht von Derschau, welche zu Nürnberg… gegen gleich baare Bezahlung versteigert werden sollen’, Nuremberg, 1 August–29 September 1825, p.238 lot 2233.

23. Rudolph Weigel, ‘Sammlung von Kupferstichen, Radirungen, Schwarzkunstblättern, etc.’, Leipzig, 23 April 1849, p.8 lot 96 (‘26 Bl. Berühmte antike Triumphbogen. 1549. f. S. selten’).

24. ‘Catalogue des livres, estampes et dessins composant la bibliothèque... de feu M. Armand Bertin’, Paris, 4 May 1854, p.31 no. 223 (‘Recueil très-rare de 25 planches, y compris le texte en latin’).

25. ‘Catalogue d’estampes anciennes à l’eau-forte et au burin, par divers peintres et graveurs aux xvie, xviie et xviiie siècles… du Cabinet de M. R. D [A.P.F. Robert-Dumesnil, 1778–1864]’, Paris, 26 November 1855; cf. Pierre François Defer, Catalogue général des ventes publiques de tableaux et estampes depuis 1737 (Paris 1863–1868), p.60 no. 2 (‘Les Arcs. Jacobus Androuetius Ducerceau, Lectoribus. Aureliae, 1549, in-fol., 26 pl. Vente R. D. (26 novembre 1855), 110 fr.’).

26. Sotheby & Co., ‘Catalogue of valuable printed books, science, autograph letters and historical documents’, London, 11 April 1967, lot 255 (title and 24 plates only, mounted, in a 19th-century French calf binding).

27. Drouot Estimations, ‘Photographies & Autographes et livres’, Paris, 6 March 2009, lot 21 (‘5 recueils reliés en un volume in-folio, veau granité… (reliure vers 1700). Belle et rare réunion, comprenant plusieurs planches en retirages tardifs’).

28. Peter Fuhring, ‘Catalogue sommaire des estampes’ in Jacques Androuet du Cerceau, op. cit., p.311.

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