Andrea Pozzo. Prospettiva de' pittori ed architetti [Perspective of Painters and Architects]. Edizioni Italo Svevo, 2003

Translation by Francesco Mazzaferro

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Andrea Pozzo

Prospettiva de' pittori ed architetti [Perspective of painters and architects]

Edited by Maria Walcher Casotti

Edizioni Italo Svevo, 2003

A Plate from Andrea Pozzo's Treatise

[1] Herewith we will consider the reprint (with an initial introduction by Maria Walcher Casotti) of the first volume (only) of the Prospettiva de’ pittori e architetti (Perspective of painters and architects), by the painter and Jesuit architect Andrea Pozzo (1642 -1709). The princeps (first printed version) of the first volume, in Latin and Italian, dates back to 1693 while that of the second was published, again in Rome, in 1700. On the publication years of the two books by Andrea Pozzo and on the confusion generated over time between the Latin - Italian version and the Latin - English version by J. Senex and R. Gosling, please refer to the review by Luciano Mazzaferro (see below) to Andrea Pozzo, Perspective in Architecture and Painting. An Unabridged Reprint of the Inglese-and-Latin Edition of the 1693 "Perspectiva Pictorum et Architectorum". Here we try to add some complementary elements, such as the fact that there is complete confusion even on the year of release of the second volume: Ms. Casotti Walcher refers to 1700, but there are those who cite 1698 and 1702. In reality all this uncertainty already displays a reality: the Treaty experienced an extraordinary fortune in the early years of the eighteenth century (we'll talk about later), but suffered an equally extraordinary oblivion later on, due to the change of taste. Pozzo himself was basically not an exception to such an oblivion: there are no modern annotated editions of the work; even this volume, published in 2003, is very difficult to find (perhaps because of the absence of the Isbn code, that, in an era where everything is encrypted, makes it "invisible" to the search engines of online bookstores). However, as already indicated, this is a reprint of the first volume (it should be noted that the pages are not numbered, while the plates are, which already expresses the preponderance of illustration within this work compared to the text). "The reprint of the second volume is impossible for technical reasons" (p. 7). For a facsimile reprint of both the volumes of the treatise, please see the 2009 edition by the Autonomous Province of Trento.

A Plate from Andrea Pozzo's Treatise

[2] Ms. Walcher Casotti notes that Pozzo immediately gets "in his role as a professor of perspective and goes on to explain the basic principles of perspective ... proposing a practical application in increasingly complex geometric figures up to the representation of the architectural orders, taking as an example Vignola. But the Regola delli Cinque Ordini di Architettura (Rule of the Five Orders of Architecture) by Vignola is only a fixed point from which to start, because what Pozzo intends is to teach how to represent these architectural orders in their main parts and their use in different buildings, leveraging its outstanding experience in the representation of the architecture in perspective. So while in Vignola both architectural orders - as a whole and in particulars - are represented only as plants and frontally, here they are represented in perspective and in a variety of compositions in which such orders appear " (pp. 8-9). For a better assessment of the work by Pozzo is also important to read what Luigi Vagnetti writes in De naturali et artificiali perspectiva. Bibliografia ragionata delle fonti teoriche e delle ricerche di storia della prospettiva; contributo alla formazione della conoscenza di un’idea razionale, nei suoi sviluppi da Euclide a Gaspard Monge (On natural and artificial perspectives. Annotated bibliography of theoretical sources and of research in the history of perspective. Contribution on how the knowledge of a rational idea took shape, from Euclid to Gaspard Monge (pp. 367-370 and p. 416-419): "Important work, which is essential in the historical development of perspective. It condenses in an organic unity the needs of operational practice with those of scientific accuracy, supported by theorists, with a clear and concise comment to over 200 plates, self-explaining and beautifully engraved "(p. 417). And again: " ... I believe that it is appropriate to point out here especially to the really exceptional clarity, which appears in the text as much (and especially) in the graphs of the Treaty, to which it is even permissible to recognise the function of a replacement of the analytical description, a function which the author intended to assign them "(p. 368).

Andrea Pozzo. The false Dome' of S. Ignazio's Church, (1685)
Rome

[3] The curator points out to the existence, at the end of the second volume of the Treaty, of a “Brieve instruttione per dipingere à fresco” (Brief instruction on how to paint frescos) in which Pozzo provides operational guidance on his favorite painting technique, i.e. the fresco. It is indeed possible to read the text here, but Mary Philadelphia Merrifield also translated excerpts in English within her The Art of Fresco Painting in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, which is present in this library.

[4] Let us return for a moment to the critical fortune of the work. It has been said of the sudden fortune of the same; beyond the above mentioned uncertainties on dating, it is certain (Vagnetti writes on p. 368) that there were several Italian - Latin editions in about a century, and that there were translations into English, German, Flemish, French, and even Russian and Chinese. Now, it is clear that this flourishing of foreign publications has a lot to do (at least, for example, in China) with the fact that Pozzo was a Jesuit and therefore with the strategy of self-promotion carried out by the Order a little everywhere. Of course - and for reasons clear to all – this was not the case in the newly formed Anglican Britain (curiously the year of the English edition of the Treaty - 1707 - coincides with the official birth of the United Kingdom). The editor tries to advance a hypothesis, which does not seem so unfounded. It is likely that Pozzo was called to Vienna (where he died) at the request of the most famous Austrian architect of the time, namely Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, who had known him during his long stay in Italy and had become a great admirer of him. In turn, Fischer von Erlach had lived in London for a few months in 1704 and it is possible - though not certain - that he promoted the publication of the treaty with Christopher Wren, John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor, namely the three British architects of fame, who result to have explicitly given their approval to the release of the English version. On the negative judgments about the Treaty, with sometimes harsh words, by Militia and later (even without sparing accusations of plagiarism, see p. 15-22

Andrea Pozzo. The Triumph  of Sant'Ignazio (1691-1694). Fresco
Rome, S,Ignazio Church,

[5] We conclude by going back to the publishing history of the work. Maria Walcher Casotti thinks to have identified a double edition of the princeps (first printed edition) of 1693. In fact, some specimens - very few - of the princeps, (including the present, which is located at the Public Library "Attilio Hortis" in Trieste with collocation 12598) do not have a postscript inserted before the index and after the plate 100 (of course of the first volume): "afterword added after the completion of the vault of the church of St. Ignatius in 1694, as well as four other pages ... to respond to requests for clarification that were addressed ... from perspective beginners… and reporting further new explanations on the first twelve figures of the text" (p.12). The practice of applying corrections or additions between two runs was not uncommon at the time. Memory of the first edition had gone practically lost. Walcher called it editio princeps princeps. In fact, all later editions (including for example the Senex - Gosling) have all the additions mentioned above

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Andrea Pozzo

Perspective in Architecture and Painting

An Unabridged Reprint of the English-and-Latin Edition of the 1693 “Perspectiva Pictorum et Architectorum”

(recensione di Luciano Mazzaferro)

Andrea Pozzo
Self-Portrait
Rome, Chiesa del Gesù

Dover Publications, 1989

[1] The work of Andrea Pozzo (Puteus in Latin) was published in Rome in two volumes, with the Latin text figuring next to the Italian version. The first volume appeared in 1693, and the second five years later. The first volume bears the following title: Perspectiva pictorum et architectorum Andreae Putei S.J. Pars Prima, in qua docetur modus expeditissimus delineandi optice omnia quae pertinent ad Architecturam. (Perspective of the painters and architects, by Andrew Pozzo SJ - The first part, where he teaches the easiest method to display all things that pertain to the architecture). Some slight modification is gathered in the subtitle of the next volume, which appeared in 1698.

[2] Pozzo’s work received an immediate and well-deserved success. It was reprinted several times in Italian and translated into several languages, even in Chinese. The English version (due to John James of Greenwich and now reproduced by Dover) came to the light in London in the early eighteenth century, almost certainly in 1707. It was drawn on behalf of J. Senex and R. Gosling and of other operators with their associates. For convenience of presentation, we will however call it from now on the Senex-Gosling edition. Only the first of two volumes was translated, the one - just to be understood - which was released in Rome in 1693. Next to the Latin text, which was maintained, the English version was included, taking the place originally reserved for Italian.

[3 ] The Senex- Gosling edition has two cover pages, one in English and the other in Latin. It is worth reading at least the initial part of the English title: Rules and Examples of Perspective, proper for Painters and Architects, etc. In English and Latin. Containing a most easie and expeditious Method to Delineate in Perspective All Designs relating to Architecture […] Done from the original Printed at Rome 1693 in Lat. and Ital. [See: https://archive.org/details/rulesexamplesofp00pozz] The title of the eighteenth century is very different from that used in the present reprint of Dover. The American editor has faithfully reproduced the text printed nearly three centuries ago, but presented him with a title more in line with the taste and education of modern readers. 

[4] The only date that appears in the two title pages of the Senex-Gosling edition is 1693, the year of publication of the original (in Italian and Latin) by Pozzo. It seems logical that that date was mentioned, hinting that only the first volume had been translated, (just came out in 1693), and that no interest, at least at that time, existed for the second (1698). 

[5] Yet, despite the indications given in the two title pages and the most explicit reference in the preface (see the first few lines of p. 8), already in the eighteenth century scholars started to use the date of 1693 to indicate the year of printing of the Senex – Gosling edition. And they started to say and repeat that the English translation of the Pozzo was released in 1693.

[6] We know from Comolli (his witness must be remembered , also because it seems it has not been used so far) that in 1756 the library T. Gale of London put into circulation a catalogue which attributed to the edition Senex - Gosling precisely the date printing of 1693. And Comolli reacted in a really unexpected and original way. Rather than thinking it was a date error (never having had any news of the English edition), he advanced serious doubts about its existence at all. About the English translation – as it can be read in the Bibliografia storico-critica dell’architettura civile (Historical-critical bibliography of civil architecture) (III, p. 174 ) - " the assigned year 1693 creates reasons of doubt, for the first part was edited in Rome in the same year... " . In short: it was not possible to translate and print in English a work in the same year in which the original edition had appeared in another country (even a first part). Comolli was wary of certain inconsistencies, and thought that the English translation was nothing if not a mere invention. 

[7] Years passed, but the misunderstanding remained. Even the well documented study of Luigi Vagnetti on the "Prospettiva" journal , published in 1979 on n . 9-10 of Studi e documenti di Architettura (Studies and documents of Architecture), attributes the printing date of 1693 to the Senex - Gosling edition (p. 417, col. 10). This is hardly surprising: it is, as mentioned, a widespread belief, even if wrong. Even Kim Veltman is no exception even in his The Sources of Perspective. 

[8] It should be mentioned, for completeness, that the editors of the Dover reprint did not fall into the trap and in two different parts of the volume (the back cover and p. 4) clearly indicate that the English edition was published around 1707. 

[9] Finally, it should be noted that in the edition Senex - Gosling (reproduced from Dover), a note entitled "Approbation of this Edition." appears immediately after the "Preface to this Translation". Three architects argue that the work deserves “encouragement” and call it "very proper for Instruction in Perspective". The first of the three characters is Christopher Wren, the greatest English architect of all time. The other two (John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor) are considered valid exponents of Baroque architecture in England.