Giovanni Mazzaferro. Cennino Cennini and the "Book of Art": a Check-list of the Printed Editions. First part: from 1821 to 1900. Bologna, dicembre 2013

Translation by Francesco Mazzaferro
CLICK HERE FOR ITALIAN VERSION

VAI AL PROGETTO CENNINI

Giovanni Mazzaferro

CENNINO CENNINO AND THE “BOOK OF ART”: A CHECK-LIST OF THE PRINTED EDITIONS

First part: from 1821 to 1900

Agnolo Gaddi. The legend of the True Cross (part.)
Basilica di Santa Croce a Firenze
(1380-1390 circa)

The purpose of this paper is to make a census of the printed editions of the Book of Art by Cennino Cennini. The Book of Art is probably, after Vasari's Lives, the most famous book of Italian art in worldwide literature. However, it is difficult to gain complete information of what are the countries in which it was published and especially what were the reasons that led people with a very different cultural background to undertake its translation. In customary bibliographic lists at most fifteen editions are cited. In this census 33 editions (and 54, if you count reprints) are listed, excluding modern digital reprints. Unexpected cases are documented, including in countries traditionally considered much closed to the outside world (the case of school is undoubtedly Japan, where a first attempt to produce an edition in local language occurred in 1924, but was crowned only forty years later; but even in Stalin-time Soviet Union an edition of Cennino appeared in 1933).

I thought, therefore, that the time had come to make an effort and try to list all editions. I was certainly facilitated by modern search technology. On the Internet, now, you can find almost anything (provided you know how and where to search).

Of course I cannot claim to have identified all publications. This work is, by its nature, open to integrations. If you know of any other edition, if you have more information about the many points which remained obscure, or if you still think that there are any inaccuracies, please contact me. I will make sure to supplement or correct information, obviously citing the source.

AUTHOR'S NOTE (5 gennaio 2014): it was enough to publish the three episodes of the Census of Cennini to receive several reports of other editions. I entered them here. Overall, I have now listed 45 editions (71 if one takes into account the reprints). Do not hesitate to contact me, if there were other ones. This is, in fact, an effective example of crowdsourcing.

THE BOOK OF ART

On content issues of the work, I would like to refer to the excellent ‘Cennino Cennini, Il Libro dell’Arte, by Fabio Frezzato (Neri Pozza publisher, 2003 and 2009), easily available in all (Italian) libraries.

MANUSCRIPTS

Before listing the various editions in chronological order, I think it is appropriate to provide some rough indications on the manuscripts that have come down to our days , and which document the efforts by Cennino (dating back to the last years of the 1300) .

The original manuscript of Cennino is currently lost. There are four codes to which to refer. I am listing them:

1. Codice Mediceo Laurenziano P.78.23 (initials ML)
2. Codice Riccardiano 2190 (abbreviated R)
3. Codice Vaticano Ottoboniano 2974 (abbreviated VO)
4. Codice Palatino 818 della Biblioteca Nazionale di Firenze (initials BNF).

According to most (see Frezzato p. 33), only the first two codes are reliable witnesses of the original text. The third and fourth are eighteenth-century copies of the Mediceo Laurenziano Code.

The Mediceo Laurenziano Code is without any doubt the most ancient; two different hands can be recognized. At the end of his activity, the first copyist marked a date that seems broadly credible: July 31, 1437. The code has, however, large gaps, and some of the text is lost.

The Code Riccardiano 2190 is undoubtedly the following one in chronological order, even if a precise date does not appear; it is customary to think of a copy of the Sixteenth century, although there are those who are inclined to bring forward the date to the earliest years of the century and who – to the contrary - even speaks of a copy of the first seventeenth century. The date is of great importance because, at least in appearance, this code contains the entire text of the work of Cennini and in particular the absent part in the Mediceo Laurenziano Code. However it should be noted that the copyist often (this becomes evident from a comparison with the Mediceo Laurenziano Code) forgot to include words or whole passages (of course, he could also have copied from a mutilated manuscript). In any case, the Mediceo Laurenziano and Riccardiano codes definitely originate from two different witnesses and, fortunately, complement each other

Instead, the Ottoboniano Code 2974 is a product of 1700. It is a copy of the Mediceo Laurenziano, and the same sections are missing as in the latter. In addition, the copyist has transcribed the same date (July 31, 1437) that appears in the oldest manuscript. The author of the copy marked an additional date (1737) which is precisely the year in which his work can be traced back. He also added shortening (P.A.W.), which leads us to believe that it was not Italian.

Another copy of the Mediceo Laurenziano Code is the Code 818 of the National Library of Florence. It dates roughly to the late Eighteenth century.

ISSUES OF THE XIX CENTURY

Year 1821

First edition in Italian 

DI CENNINO CENNINI TRATTATO DELLA PITTURA

Messo in luce la prima volta con annotazioni

Edited by Giuseppe Tambroni

Place of publication: Roma

Printer: Paolo Salviucci

Other editions: 1963 (Stabilimento Tipografico Julia, Roma)

Conduct on the manuscript VO

Available on the Internet: yes

Internet address:
http://books.google.it/books/about/Trattato_della_pittura.html?id=S5xAAAAAYAAJ&redir_esc=y

Frontpage of the Tambroni edition (1821)

The princeps, first printed edition of the Treaty, is of Giuseppe Tambroni. The edition is conducted on the Ottoboniano Code. The publication was a great success. Along with the success also came criticism. In the June 1821 issue of Anthologia Viesseux, Antonio Benci harshly criticized Tambroni for using VO instead of ML and reported for the first time the existence of R and L. Always on Anthology, Tambroni replicated, Benci responded (August 1821) and Leopold Cicognara intervened (October 1822) . The princeps is also reviewed in September 1821 in the Journal des Savans from Quatremère de Quincy.

Year 1844

First edition in Italian

A TREATISE ON PAINTING WRITTEN BY CENNINO CENNINI

In the year 1437; and first published in Italian in 1821, with an introduction and notes, by Signor Tambroni; containing practical directions for painting in fresco, secco, oil, and distemper with the art of gilding and illuminating manuscripts adopted by the Old Masters

Edited by Mary P. Merrifield

Place of publication: Londra

Printer: Edward Lumley

Conduct on the manuscript VO

Available on the Internet: yes

Internet address:

http://books.google.it/books/about/Di_Cennino_Cennini_trattato_della_pittur.html?id=wxFAAAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y

Despite Benci’s wish to see soon a new lesson on Cennino, only in 1844 a new edition is published, in English, by Mary P. Merrifield. The translation was performed on the text of Tambroni, and then on the manuscript VO. Merrifield completed the work with a broad introduction and several endnotes. She made no mention of the controversy Tambroni - Benci. The purpose of the translation is clear from the very first lines of the introduction:   “The Translator [note of the editor: Merrifield refers to herself] was induced to attempt making an English version of the work of Cennino in consequence of the estimation in which it appears to have been held by the Commissioners on the Fine Arts… The translation of the work is also recommended in a letter which appeared in the Art-Union (October 1841), suggesting the expediency of procuring translations of several works on painting, in order to obtain practical information on the subject generally; and in particular, to discover, if possible, the whole process observed by the painters of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in painting those pictures, the colouring and execution of which excite our surprise and admiration even after a lapse of four centuries… Some extracts from the work have appeared in the Report of the Commissioners on the Fine Arts; but the Translator believes the entire treatise is but little known in England”. The Commission on the Fine Arts was the state body entrusted with the development and sponsorship of contemporary British art. Buckhingam Palace had gone completely to fire in 1834. When it was decided to rebuild it, a committee was set up (of which Charles Lock Eastlake was secretary), who should have seized that opportunity in order to promote and raise the quality of local painting (especially in fresco technique). Hence the frantic search for recipes and testimonies of the past, with a purely practical purpose. Mary P. Merrifield distinguished herself in the operation. Her masterpiece is the unsurpassed Original Treatises On The Arts Of Painting.

Year 1858

First edition in French

TRAITÉ DE LA PEINTURE DE CENNINO CENNINI

mis en lumière pour la première fois avec des notes par le Chevalier G. Tambroni

Edited by Victor Mottez

Place of publication: Paris / Lille

Printer: Jules Renouard (libraire) / L. Lefort (imprimeur-libraire)

Conduct on the manuscript VO

Available on the Internet: yes

Internet address:
http://books.google.it/books/about/Trait%C3%A9_de_la_peinture.html?id=ObFDAAAAcAAJ&redir_esc=y

Cover of the Mottez edition (1858)

The first French edition is also the first to be prepared by a "professional" painter.  Mottez (a pupil of Ingres) translated from the Tambroni edition of 1821 (part of the original introduction by the Italian curator, is however cut). Mottez’s initiative is explained by the great interest that the French had for the fresco technique and, more generally, for the purist passion for the old masters, that derived from his Italian stay. The editor says (in a footnote), p. 71: "With Cennino Cennini alone, with no other guide, I was able to do fresco painting in Paris. It is this that engaged me to translate this book." Mottez feels compelled to point out that Cennino wrote when the fresco technique was a daily activity, giving therefore many things for granted. Thus, Mottez took care to add some notes about the condition of the walls and their preparation for the fresco (pp. 72-75). I do not think in all honesty that Mottez has technically benefited greatly from the lessons of Cennino, given that most of the frescoes executed in the French churches were already completely ruined at the end of the 1800s.

Year 1859

Second edition in Italian 

IL LIBRO DELL’ARTE, O TRATTATO DELLA PITTURA DI CENNINO CENNINI DA COLLE DI VALDELSA

di nuovo pubblicato, con molte correzioni e coll’aggiunta di più capitoli tratti dai codici fiorentini 

Edited by Gaetano e Carlo Milanesi

Place of publication: Firenze

Publisher: Le Monnier

Conduct on the manuscript ML interpolated with R

Available on the Internet: yes

Internet address:
http://books.google.it/books?id=4ABOAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=it&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

The second Italian edition is edited by the brothers Carlo and Gaetano Milanesi. The fundamental difference with respect to the edition Tambroni is already clear from the title: the edition is conducted on the Florentine manuscripts, especially on ML interpolated with R. The preface is, even today, a model of clarity. On the figure of Gaetano Milanesi (author of a critical commentary on Vasari's Lives) I cannot say anything new, and especially nothing better than it has done by Piergiacomo Petrioli in Gaetano Milanesi. Erudizione e storia dell’arte in Italia e nell’Ottocento. Profilo e carteggio artistico,Siena, 2004. (Erudition and art history in Italy and in the Nineteenth Century. Profile and artistic correspondence). I quote from p. 116: "The two scholars from Siena ... proceed with precise philological method, doing well-targeted documentary research and also by contacting scholars like Ulisse Forni ... in order to deepen the biography of Cennini and investigate the lexical peculiarities of the text ... The medieval edition of the recipe book by Carlo and Gaetano Milanesi includes a precise and direct exhortation for contemporary painters to be based on the precepts of the high Italian tradition and to follow, romantically and in accordance with the directives of purism, the footsteps of the greats. Not surprisingly, the volume is significantly dedicated to Luigi Mussini ". Petrioli also has a presence in BCS (Public Library of Siena), ms. P.III.45 , cc.105 -106 Gaetano Milanesi, ‘Cose da notarsi nel ‘Trattato della Pittura’ di Cennino Cennini‘ (Things to be noted in the ' Treatise on Painting ' of Cennino Cennini ).

Year 1871

First edition in German 

DAS BUCH VON DER KUNST ODER TRACTAT DER MALEREI DES CENNINO CENNINI DA COLLE DI VALDELSA

Edited by Albert Ilg

Place of publication: Vienna

Publisher: Wilhelm Braumüller

Other editions: 1888 (Wilhelm Braumüller); 1970 (Otto Zeller Verlag), 2012 (Wagener Edition)

Conduct on the manuscript ML interpolated with R

Available on the Internet: yes

Internet address: https://archive.org/details/dasbuchvonderkun00cenn

The first German edition is exemplified on the text of the Milanesi edition and is the work of the art historian Albert Ilg. This publication inaugurated, moreover, the most popular series of sources of the history of art ever published, or the "Quellenschriften für Kunstgeschichte Kunsttechink und des Mittalalters und der Renaissance" of which Rudolf Eitelberger von Edelberg was editor. The series is the ultimate expression of the so-called "School of Vienna". The introduction by Milanesi is not published, but the end of the translation contains a rich series of notes and an invaluable analytical index.

Year 1899

Second edition in English

THE BOOK OF THE ART OF CENNINO CENNINI

A Contemporary Practical Treatise on Quattrocento Painting

Transleted from the Italian, with Notes on Mediaeval Art Methods

Edited by Christiana J. Herringham

Place of publication: London

Publisher: George Allen (Ruskin House)

Other editions: II ed. 1922 (Allen & Unwin), III ed. 1930 (Allen & Unwin)

Conduct on the manuscript ML interpolated with R

Available on Internet: yes

Internet address:

https://archive.org/stream/bookartcenninoc01herrgoog#page/n7/mode/2up

 Herringham Edition (1899)

: 

A necessary premise: for the compilation of the notes of this edition, as well as those of Henry Mottez, Renzo Simi and Willibrord Verkade, I made extensive use of the essay, authored by Margherita d’Ayala Valva: ‘’Gli “scopi pratici moderni” del Libro dell’Arte di Cennino Cennini: le edizioni primonovecentesche di Herringham, Renoir, Simi e Verkade in Paragone/Arte Anno LVI Terza serie N. 64 (669) Novembre 2005 (The "modern practical purposes"  of the Book of Art by Cennino Cennini. The first editions at the beginning of the Twentieth century, by Herringham, Renoir, Simi and Verkade). The survey is available online at: 

https://www.academia.edu/2969766/Gli_scopi_pratici_moderni_del_Libro_dellarte_di_Cennino_Cennini_le_edizioni_primonovecentesche_di_Herringham_Renoir_Simi_e_Verkade_in_Paragone_Arte_a._LVI_terza_serie_n._64_669_novembre_2005_pp._71-91

The second English edition of the book by Cennino comes at the end of 1800, thanks to Lady Herringham. The first edition (that of Merrifield) had been conducted on the Tambroni edition, this one on the Milanesi version. Lady Herringham, as Victor Mottez - author of the French edition - was also an artist, and she also came to the decision to translate into English the text to spread the use of tempera painting of the Italian Primitives (Mottez was instead interested in the technique of ' fresco’). Not surprisingly, Lady Herringham (strictly faithfully to Ruskin) founded only two years later the Society of Painters in Tempera. It should be noted that she not only translated, but also presented a wide overview on the techniques of tempera painting in other major medieval treatises then known. Lady Herringham’s life, moreover, was full of adventure. Co-founder of India Society, she lived there between 1906 and 1911 to copy Buddhist cave paintings in a serious state of disrepair. His life (narrated by a biographer, Mary Lago) inspired Edgar Morris Forster for his novel A Passage to India (1924), which in 1984 led to the eponymous and famous movie. To us, however, it is above all important to know that Herringham’s translation was widely adopted in the English-speaking world for decades, so much so that a second and third edition went out, respectively in 1922 and 1930.

GO TO PART TWO