Giovanni Mazzaferro. Cennino Cennini and the "Book of Art": a Check-list of the Printed Editions. Third part: from 1951 onwards. Bologna, dicembre 2013

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Giovanni Mazzaferro

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

Parte Three: from 1951 to 2013

Agnolo Gaddi. The Legend of the True Cross. Basilica di Santa Croce a Firenze

EDITIONS FROM 1951 ONWARDS

Year 1955

Third edition in Polish

CENNINO CENNINI

RZECZ O MALARSTWIE

Edited by Samuel Tyszkiewicz, Bohdan Marconi, Bohdan Urbanowicz e Hanna Jed̨rzejewska

Place of publication: Wroclaw

Publisher: Zakład imienia Ossolińskich

Conduct on manuscript ML interpolated with R

Available on the Internet: no

The third Polish edition is of the 1955. Still the name of Samuel Tyszkiewicz appears as a translator (see the editions 1933, 1934), but in addition to those of Bohdan Marconi, Bohdan Urbanowicz and Hanna Jedrzejewska. We are not able to say how the three divided their roles between each other. What is certain is that - from a quick survey on the Internet - all three were experts in restoration and gravitated around the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Only incidentally, I would like to point out that Bohdan Marconi is a descendant of Enrico Marconi, Italian architect who made his fortune by moving to Poland in the late 1700s and became one of the greatest exponents of local neoclassicism.

Year 1959

First edition in Hungarian  

CENNINO CENNINI

TRATTATO DELLA PITTURA

Edited by Béla Czene

Place of publication: Budapest

Publisher: private edition

Front-cover of a Hungarian private edition

The edition is anonymous. Only in 2021 we managed to know that its author was Béla Czene (1911-1999). 

Year 1964

First Japanese edition

CENNINO CENNINI

LIBRO DELL’ARTE

Edited by Nakamura Tsune

Place of publication: ?

Publisher: Chuokuron Art Publishing

Conduct on manuscript VO, with additions from ML and R

Available on the Internet: no

La prima edizione giapponese (1964)

The data that are provided are taken from websites http://tsune-atelier.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2007-06-29 and http://www.cad-red.com/jpn/data/books_manuscript .html. Nakamura Tsune (1887-1924) was a painter of some importance in Japan in the second decade of the twentieth century, winning several academic competitions and enjoying a good reputation at the imperial court. Among its interest is undoubtedly also mentioned the attempt (which remained unfinished due to the death for tuberculosis) to translate The Book of Art of Cennino. The translation - mind you - was conducted on the Mottez father and son editions in 1911, the one with a preface by Renoir. We remember him because, from what we have read on the net, Nakamura would be largely inspired just by painting by Renoir in his career. The translation seems more dictated by the need to pay homage to Renoir that by the real interest for text cenniniano. Nakamura died in 1924. Only in the 1960s the translation of Nakamura has been integrated with that of other scholars (we could not figure out who they are) and the first Japanese translation was born.

Year 1964

First edition in the Danish 

CENNINO CENNINI

BOGEN OM MALERKUNSTEN

A cura di Anna Sofia Reumert Martellucci and Hannemarie Graff Nielsen

Place of publication: Odense or Copenaghen?

Publisher: Rasmus Fischer

Conduct on manuscript ?

Available on the Internet: no

I do not know anything else on this edition, which was traced by Francesco Mazzaferro. Edition quoted by Simona Rinaldi (see the first bulgarian edition of 1994).

Year 1971

Fifth edition in Italian 

CENNINO CENNINI

IL LIBRO DELL’ARTE

Edited by Franco Brunello. With a foreword by Licisco Magagnato 

Place of publication: Vicenza

Publisher: Neri Pozza

Other editions: 1982 (Neri Pozza), 1998 (Neri Pozza. Reprint reported by Mark Clarke)

Conduct on manuscript ML interpolated with R

Available on the Internet: no

 Brunello edition (1971)

After almost forty years (the last one was in 1932 that by Thompson) a new edition in Italian of the Book of Art returns. That of Franco Brunello is undoubtedly a fortunate experience. From a philological point of view there is nothing earth-shattering. Brunello claims to have followed the version of Simi, with minor modifications. But where there is a significant leap forwards is in technical comment: the editor is a great expert on medieval recipe, and has a degree in chemistry. His Glossary of terms used in the Book of Art (pp. 220-226) and the Index of colors and auxiliary materials for the parts mentioned in the Book of Art are still considered as of absolute level. More generally, the impression is that the success of Brunello is also determined by a change in public. Emerges with clarity the need to create an array of modern restorers, who should be in step with the progress of chemistry. The Book of Art becomes more of a manual to restore art and less of a manual for practicing the same..

Year 1975

Sixth edition in Italian 

CENNINO CENNINI

IL LIBRO DELL’ARTE O TRATTATO DELLA PITTURA

Edited by Fernando Tempesti 

Place of publication: Milan

Publisher: Longanesi & C.

Conduct on manuscript ML interpolated with R

Available on the Internet: no

Fernando Tempesti makes a drastic choice. As for the critical text of the Book by Cennini, he notes that all Italian editions are based in fact on the 1859 edition of the Milanesi brothers, and then reproduces that version. Then he focuses too (like Brunello) on the technical aspects of the items and fills a very wide Table of items pertaining to art (pp. 155-223 ), which perhaps has not been appreciated as it would be deserved.

Year 1977

Second edition in Romanian 

CENNINO CENNINI

TRATATUL DE PICTURA

Edited by N. Al. Toscani

Introduction by Victor I. Stoichita 

Place of publication: Bucarest

Publisher: Meridiane

Conduct on manuscript ML interpolated with R

Available on the Internet: no

The secon Romanian edition (1977)

The translator of the second edition of the Book of the Art, N. Al Toscani, has created his own version based on the Tempesti edition, but also by consulting other Cennini’s editions (Milanesi, Simi, Tambroni ), and even the Laurentian and Riccardiano codes. I owe this information directly to Victor I. Stoichita, who wrote the introduction to this edition, and responded with great courtesy to my request for information.

Year 1988

First edition in Hungarian (?) 

CENNINO CENNINI

TRATTATO DELLA PITTURA

Edited by ? (anonymous)

Place of publication: ?

Publisher: private edition

Front-cover of a Hungarian private edition

See also Giovanni Mazzaferro. Cennino Cennini, an Enigmatic Edition and Hungary in the First 1900.

Year 1988

Third edition in Spanish 

CENNINO CENNINI

EL LIBRO DEL ARTE

Edited by Franco Brunello. With a foreword by Licisco Magagnato. Translation by Fernando Olmeda Latorre 

Place of publication: Madrid

Publishing: Ediciones Akal

Other editions: 1996 (Akal; reprint reported by Mark Clarke), 2000 (Akal), 2002 (Akal)

Conduct on manuscript ML interpolated with R

Available on the Internet: no

Terza edizione spagnola

The third Spanish edition is nothing but the translation of the full Brunello edition of 1971. The translation is by Fernando Olmeda Latorre.

Year 1990

First edition in Greek

CENNINO CENNINI

Το Βιβλίο της Τέχνης Ή πραγματεία περί της ζωγραφικής
To Biblio tis technis i pragmatia peri tis zografikis apo ton Cennino Cennini

Edited by P. Tetsis

Place of publication: Artigraf

Publisher: Athens

Conduct on manuscript VO with integrations from ML and R

Available on the Internet: no

First Greek edition (1990)

The first Greek edition appears in 1990 and is the translation of the French edition Mottez father and son in 1911. Once again, the preface of Renoir proves to be irresistible to the foreign translator (P. Tetsis).  Edition traced by Francesco Mazzaferro.

Year 1991

Seventh edition in Italian 

CENNINO CENNINI

IL LIBRO DELL’ARTE

Edited by Mario Serchi

Place of publication: Florence

Publisher: Le Monnier

Other editions: 2° ed 1999 (Le Monnier)

Conduct on manuscript ML interpolated with R

Available on the Internet: no

The view has spread by now that, from a philological point of view, nothing can be done to improve the text of the Book of Art. Mario Serchi reproduces therefore (such as Brunello did in 1971) the Simi edition, putting his own preface, and also dealing with comments and notes.

Year 1991

Third edition in French

CENNINO CENNINI

IL LIBRO DELL’ARTE

Edited by Colette Déroche

Place of publication: Paris

Publisher: Éditions Berger-Levrault

Conduct on manuscript ML, R and VO

Available on the Internet: no

Terza edizione francese

The previous editions in French, in 1858 (Victor Mottez) and in 1911 (Mottez father and son) were in essence based on VO manuscript. And yet the impression is that the versions of the Book of Art beyond the Alps have long experienced a sort of misunderstanding: to weigh was especially the preface that Renoir had affixed to the second one. How to tell it? The version of Mottez father and son was sought more for the script by Renoir than for the testimony of Cennino. Only in 1991, with the publication of this volume, edited by Colette Deroche, the focus is re-centred back on the artist of Colle Val d'Elsa. Deroche presents the well-known reasons that lead to say that the Ottoboniano manuscript is not entirely reliable, and builds critical edition by translating directly from ML (used as base), R and VO. Among the various Italian editions, Deroche shows particular closeness to Milanesi (among the old ones) and that of Franco Brunello (among the latest ones), so that in certain circumstances he came up to literally translate the notes affixed by Brunello himself in his version (with the permission of the latter) .

Year 1991

Second edition in Japanese

CENNINO CENNINI

LIBRO DELL’ARTE

Edited by Tsuji Shigeru

Place of publication: Tokyo

Publisher: Iwanami Shoten

Other editions: 2009 (Iwanami Shoten)

Conduct on manuscript ?

Available on the Internet: no

Second Japanese edition

Please refer to the publisher link: http://www.iwanami.co.jp/.BOOKS/00/2/0003370.htm. I am unfortunately unable to provide any further information on the issue.

Year 1994

First edition in Bulgarian

CENNINO CENNINI
Старинни трактати по технология и техника на живописта. Volume 1° Tomo 2°

Edited by Atanas Sharenkov

Place of publication: Sofia

Publisher: Bŭlgarski khudozhnik

Conduct on manuscript ML interpolated with R

Available on the Internet: no

The edition is quoted in Simona Rinaldi, Memoria della tempera dei Primitivi nelle testimonianze tecniche del Novecento (Memory of the temperature of the Primitives in the testimonies of the Twentieth century techniques) in OPD Restauro 21/2009. The occurrence was reported to me by Margherita D'Ayala Valva, whom I thank. The first Bulgarian edition was part of a much larger project, carried out for 15 years by Atanas Sharenkov. Sharenkov, painter, restorer, a professor of art at the Academy of Fine Arts, in fact, planned to publish a wide range of translations in Ancient treatises on the technology and techniques of painting. The project provided for the publication of the first volume in two tomes and then a second volume, also of two tomes. The first tome of the first volume was published in 1989. But Sharenkov died in a car accident in 1992, still a young man. The second tome of the first volume was released in 1994, posthumously, inside which the translation of Cennino is included. We do not know, honestly, if Sharenkov had time to complete it personally or whether it was integrated with contributions of other people.

December 21, 2013 : I got the following information from Emmanuel Moutafov, Associate Professor at the Institute for Bulgarian Studies on Art and a member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (thanks!) : Atanas Sharenkov was basically a restorer, and not particularly accustomed to work directly on manuscripts; thus, he normally translated with the help of modern editions (mainly in Russian). In the specific case, however, as explained at p. 187 of the second tome, to translate Cennino he made use on the one hand of the English edition edited by Herringham (1899) and on the other hand of the Italian version of the brothers Milanesi (1859). The second volume of the work of Sharenkov was published by his wife, after the sudden death of the author.

Year 1995

First edition in Finnish

CENNINO CENNINI
KIRJA MAALAUSTAITEESTA

Edited by Sinnika Kallio

Place of publication: Helsinki

Publisher: Taide

Other editions: 2006 (Taide)

Conduct on manuscript ?

Available on the Internet: no

First Finnish edition

I do not know anything about this edition, which was traced by Francesco Mazzaferro.

Year 1996

Second edition in Danish

CENNINO CENNINI

BOGEN OM MALERKUNSTEN - IL LIBRO DELL'ARTE

Edited by Hannemarie Ragn Jensen

Place of publication: København
Publisher: Nyt Nordisk Forlag

Conduct on manuscript ?

Available on the Internet: no

Seconda  Danish edition

Edition traced by Francesco Mazzaferro. The data relating to the curator were provided to me by Mark Clarke, Associate Professor in Technical Art History at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, and Guest researcher at University of Amsterdam (http://www.clericus.org/). Hannemarie Ragn Jensen is Professor of Art History at the University of Copenhagen.

Year 1999

First Edition in the Serbian language

Cennino Cennini

THE BOOK OF ART

in

MILORAD MEDIC

STARI SLIKARSKI PRIRUCNICI I°

The Iraklije X vek - Teofil Prezviter vek XII - XIV Cenino Cenini

Place of publication : Belgrade

Publisher: Rz Zastite Spomenika Kulture

Conduct on the manuscript ?

Available on the Internet : no

Edition found by Francesco Mazzaferro. Milorad Medić was a famous Serbian restorer, head of the Center for the Preservation of the National Museum in Belgrade. It engaged in the Serbian translation of ancient treatises on painting (Stari Slikarski Prirucnici). In Volume I (the entire work is composed of three volumes) he published translations of Heraclius, Theophilus and just Cennino Cennini. Medić died in 1999. In 2002 and 2005, the second and third volumes were published posthumously. I classify this as the first edition in Serbian language, because it is the first published after the collapse of Yugoslavia. The former one, which had been also printed in Belgrade, was of 1950; at that time, the official language of Yugoslavia was the Serbo Croatian).

Year 2001

First edition in Dutch

CENNINO CENNINI

HET HANDBOEK VAN DE KUNSTENAAR: IL LIBRO DELL’ARTE

Edited by Hendrik Van den Bossche and Hilde Theuns

Place of publication: Amsterdam
Publisher: Contact

Conduct on manuscript ML interpolated with R

Available on the Internet: no

First Dutch edition

The translation is conducted on the Italian edition by Mario Serchi (published in 1991 and reprinted in 1999) and on the English one by D.V. Thompson (Thanks to Karin Keutgens for this piece of information).

Year 2003

Eighth edition in Italian 

CENNINO CENNINI

IL LIBRO DELL’ARTE

Edited by Fabio Frezzato.

Place of publication: Vicenza

Publisher: Neri Pozza

Other editions: 2009 (Neri Pozza)

Conduct on manuscript ML interpolated with R

Available on the Internet: no

Edition by Fabio Frezzato (2003)

The eighth Italian edition of the Book of Art is undoubtedly the one that has had more visibility to the public. The excellent edition Frezzato is easily available in the library (thanks to the second edition - 2009). Frezzato first does what no Italian has made, since Simi edition (1913), namely to go and recheck the manuscripts judged significant (ML interpolated with R) and rewrite the text. Frezzato points out that the main difficulty in the comments of the treaty "fatally occurs at the points where you have to change the register, moving from historical, artistic or literary discussions to a scientific one, where the language, despite efforts to ease the transition, is modified to accept terms a little indigestible, close to the world of chemistry and earth sciences, which, on the other hand, are increasingly involved in the art-historical research "(p. 8). The result is brilliant. It is worth mentioning the sections about the colours of Cennino (dedicated to pigments and dyes mentioned in the book) and the dictionary of terms and colors.

Year 2004

Ninth edition in Italian

CENNINO CENNINI

IL LIBRO DELL’ARTE DELLA PITTURA

Il manoscritto della Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, con integrazioni del Codice Riccardiano

Edited by Antonio P. Torresi

Place of publication: Ferrara

Publisher: Liberty House

Conduct on manuscript BNF

Available on the Internet: no

Edition by Antonio Torresi (2004)

The ninth (and so far last) Italian language edition, prepared by Antonio Torresi, already contains in the subtitle the main new development: the text of the Palatine manuscript (BNF) on which no one had hitherto relied, as it is a late and incomplete copy of ML. Antonio P. Torresi is Professor of Restoration at the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara, and no doubt the approach is the one of a restorer, paying little attention to philological aspects of the text.

Year 2007

First edition in the Croatian language
CENNINO CENNINI
KNJIGA O UMJETNOSTI - IL LIBRO DELL'ARTE
Edited by Katarina Hraste and Jurica Matijević
Afterword by di Milana Pelca

Place of publication: Zagreb

Publisher: Institut of Art History (Institut za povijest umjetnosti)

Conduct on manuscript ?

Available on the Internet: no

First Croatian edition

I do not know anything else on this edition, which was traced by Francesco Mazzaferro.

Year 2008

Second Russian edition 

CENNINO CENNINI

Книга об искусстве, или Трактат о живописи (IL LIBRO DELL’ARTE O TRATTATO DELLA PITTURA)

Edited by ?

Place of publication: St. Petersburg

Publisher: Bibliopolis

Conduct on manuscript ?

Available on the Internet: no

Second Russian edition

Unfortunately the information that we obtain from the editorial note are very few. We understand that the volume proposes, in addition to Cennini’s text, passages from the Hermeneutics of painting by Dionysius from Furnas, with a clear intention to establish a comparison between techniques of the old masters of Italian art making and the Orthodox world. We do not know who is the editor of the book, no from which edition the translation has been carried out

Year 2009

Fourth edition in French

CENNINO CENNINI

IL LIBRO DELL’ARTE – TRAITÉ DES ARTS

Edited by Victor and Henry Mottez. Foreword by Marie Doyon and Magali Fenech

Place of publication: Paris

Publisher: L’œil d’or

Conduct on manuscript VO with additions from ML and R

Available on the Internet: no

Years went by, but in France it is still hard to forget the glorious edition of  Mottez father and son in 1911. As usual, to act as a magnet is a preface by Renoir. Compared to the usually, it is worth signalling the presence of the prefaces of Marie Doyon and Magali Fenech.

Year 2011

Second edition in Swedish

CENNINO CENNINI

BOKEN OM MALARKONSTEN

Edited by Karin Forsberg and Bo Ossian Lindberg

Place of publication: Malmö

Publisher: Sekel

Conduct on manuscript ML interpolated with R

Available on the Internet: no

Second Swedish edition

The first Swedish edition of the Book of Art was in 1947. It was a translation of the French edition of Mottez father and son in 1911. It is only in 2011 that the first translation from Italian of the text emerged, in particulary the Frezzato edition of 2003. The work was originally undertaken by only Forsberg, who had later learned that, long ago, Bo Ossian Lindberg, emeritus professor of art history at the University of Åbo (Finland) , in turn, had prepared a translation, remained manuscript . The two spoke, and decided to unite their intense efforts to get to the publication. In effect, therefore, this should be considered a four hands work.

ADDENDA (2015 July)

Anno 2015

Fourth edition in English

CENNINO CENNINI'S IL LIBRO DELL’ARTE

A NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY WITH ITALIAN TRANSCRIPTION

Edited by Lara Broecke.

Place of publication: London

Publisher: Archetype

Other editions: 

Conduct on manuscript ML interpolated with R

Available on the Internet: no

DOCTORAL THESES

While (at least to my knowledge) the two doctoral theses below have not been published, I believe that it is appropriate to mention them, because they display translations in languages without any printed edition.

Year 2002

Translation into Portuguese ( Brazilian but in fact )

CENNINO CENNINI

O LIVRO DE ARTE

Curated by João Epifanio Regis Lima

Orientador Leon Kossovitch

Universidade de São Paulo

João Epifanio Regis Lima is a professor of philosophy at the Methodist University of São Paulo in Brazil.

This is the description that is available on the Internet: "The Book of Art by Cennino Cennini predominantly provides technical recipes on painting from a distant disciple of Giotto. The beginning of the treatise is rich of Christian topics, literate and artistic references to Latinity and Latin cultures, with resonances to Horace, Cicero, Quintilian, Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch, besides the Bible and other theological texts. Cennino Cennini’s definition of painting involves creation as well as manual capacity in portraying things from 'examples' in the nature. The Book of Art starts the technical precepts presenting the materials involved in drawing and colouring, which are the background of any art of painting according to Cennini. The design (being 'ars' and 'ingenium') precedes the colouring as well as the relief, which are both produced starting the former. Most recipes refer to paintings on wood, on wall (fresh and dried) and on canvas, but Cennini’s book also explains how to produce reliefs and to model gypsum and metal, how to paint textiles, how to produce and adorn cavalry garments, how to paint on glass, etc. The Book of Art is one of the last treaties of art to be related to medieval treatises and precedes a whole different way of writing about art, to be inaugurated by Alberti."

Year 2012

Translation in Hungarian

CENNINO CENNINI

THE BOOK OF ART

in

András Heitler

Words and Pictures

The Art of Painting in Cennino Cennini 's Treatise Entitled The book in the Artistic Literature and art in Italy from the 14th Century to the middle of the 16th Century

Hungarian University of Fine Arts Doctoral School

Supervisor : prof. Péter Menrath DLA

Conduct on manuscript: ML interpolated with R

Available on the Internet: yes
Internet address: https://www.academia.edu/5346253/Magyar_Kepzimoveszeti_Egyetem_Doktori_Iskola

András Heitler is assistant professor at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts. The Hungarian translation of Cennino is part of a larger project. The English abstract of his thesis reads: "My doctoral work is a tentative to understand the treatise of Cennino d’Andrea Cennini entitled Il libro dell’arte. This was the first treatise on art written in Italian and was rediscovered as early as in the 16th century. Its importance is above all doubt until the present day. Yet this outstanding work is not a sole and isolated phenomenon and therefore it is a possible approach to read it in the context of similar sources. The dissertation gives an overview of the Italian writings on art from Cennini’s Libro dell’arte to the middle of the 16th century, when Vasari’s Vite was published. The other part of my work (the so called “master’s work”) is a collection of translations made by the present author. It contains seven texts on painting including Cennini’s book and earlier writings as well. These two parts of the doctoral work are inseparable and closely related to each other". Both the Hungarian translation as well the Italian original are displayed. The translation is carried out on the issue Frezzato.

ALL THE POSTS PUBLISHED IN THE CENNINI'S SERIES

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

Giovanni Mazzaferro. Cennino Cennini and the "Book of Art": a Check-list of the Printed Editions. Second part: from 1901 to 1950. Bologna, dicembre 2013

Giovanni Mazzaferro. Cennino Cennini,  An Enigmatic Edition and Hungary in the First 1900

Mark Clarke. Pentimenti : DV Thompson's reflections on his translation of Cennini 

Francesco Mazzaferro. Cennino and Stalin's 'Neo-renaissance':  the Russian Translation of the "Book of the Art" (1933)

Francesco Mazzaferro. Cennino Cennini between Europe and Japan, And why the failed attempt by Tsune Nakamura to translate the Book of Art was not in vain, after all

Francesco Mazzaferro. Cennino Cennini in 1924 Poland: the Journal 'Sztuka i Artysta' Between Theory of Art and Commercial Promotion

Francesco Mazzaferro. Cennino Cennini in Hungary: At the Search of the Anonymous Author of the first Hungarian Translation

Giovanni Mazzaferro. The first Spanish translation of the Book of Art by Cennino Cennini: a small Italian-Argentine miracle

https://letteraturaartistica.blogspot.com/2013/11/english-version-rocco-sinisgalli-il.html