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Auction archive: Lot number 239

AGUILON, Franois d' (1546-1617). Opticorum libri sex . Antwerp: Plantin Press: widow and sons of J. Moretus, 1613.

Auction 15.06.1998
15 Jun 1998 - 16 Jun 1998
Estimate
US$3,000 - US$4,000
Price realised:
US$5,520
Auction archive: Lot number 239

AGUILON, Franois d' (1546-1617). Opticorum libri sex . Antwerp: Plantin Press: widow and sons of J. Moretus, 1613.

Auction 15.06.1998
15 Jun 1998 - 16 Jun 1998
Estimate
US$3,000 - US$4,000
Price realised:
US$5,520
Beschreibung:

AGUILON, Franois d' (1546-1617). Opticorum libri sex . Antwerp: Plantin Press: widow and sons of J. Moretus, 1613. 2 o (344 x 212 mm). Half-title, engraved allegorical title, and six engraved vignettes at the head of each book, by Theodor Galle after Peter Paul Rubens, engraved text diagram on A2r and over 500 woodcut diagrams, many with typographic ornaments, printer's woodcut device, woodcut initials and tailpiece ornaments. (Light browning as usual, small piece from lower portion of title cartouche excised and patched, rust-hole to T6 catching 2 letters.) 18th-century mottled sheep, alternating gilt anchor and fleur-de-lys tools in compartments of spine, citron morocco spine label, edges red-stained (upper joint cracked, lower joint and extremities rubbed). Provenance : 18th-century shelfmark "A 29 2" on half-title and title-page. FIRST EDITION of an important treatise on optics. Written for the students of Jesuit colleges and for practical application by astronomers, navigators, architects and painters, Aguilon intended the work as the first of a three-part comprehensive survey of the science of optics, but he died before completing the remaining two parts, on catoptrics, dioptrics and telescopes. Although mainly a skillful compilation of earlier works on optics, Aguilon's treatise contains several original contributions, including "the first discussion of the stereographic process (which Aguilon named), one of the earliest presentations of the red-yellow-blue color system, an original theory of binocular vision [later disproved], and the first published description of Aguilon's horopter" (Norman). This edition is one of only seven books known to have been illustrated by Rubens. The title-page is replete with references to the "alliance of vision and reason... The title-page alone would suggest no more than an illustrator's job well and professionally done. However, the vignettes which Rubens provided for the individual title pages of each of the six books show such a complex and knowing relationship to the text as to leave no doubt that Rubens's intellectual involvement was considerable..." (Martin Kemp, The Science of Art , 1990, pp. 101-104). Aguilon's color theory and his prescriptions for the mixing of colors were used by Rubens in his paintings. Becker 6; De Backer-Sommervogel I:90 no. 1; Hofer Baroque Book Illustration 116; NLM/Krivatsy 92; Norman 25.

Auction archive: Lot number 239
Auction:
Datum:
15 Jun 1998 - 16 Jun 1998
Auction house:
Christie's
New York, Park Avenue
Beschreibung:

AGUILON, Franois d' (1546-1617). Opticorum libri sex . Antwerp: Plantin Press: widow and sons of J. Moretus, 1613. 2 o (344 x 212 mm). Half-title, engraved allegorical title, and six engraved vignettes at the head of each book, by Theodor Galle after Peter Paul Rubens, engraved text diagram on A2r and over 500 woodcut diagrams, many with typographic ornaments, printer's woodcut device, woodcut initials and tailpiece ornaments. (Light browning as usual, small piece from lower portion of title cartouche excised and patched, rust-hole to T6 catching 2 letters.) 18th-century mottled sheep, alternating gilt anchor and fleur-de-lys tools in compartments of spine, citron morocco spine label, edges red-stained (upper joint cracked, lower joint and extremities rubbed). Provenance : 18th-century shelfmark "A 29 2" on half-title and title-page. FIRST EDITION of an important treatise on optics. Written for the students of Jesuit colleges and for practical application by astronomers, navigators, architects and painters, Aguilon intended the work as the first of a three-part comprehensive survey of the science of optics, but he died before completing the remaining two parts, on catoptrics, dioptrics and telescopes. Although mainly a skillful compilation of earlier works on optics, Aguilon's treatise contains several original contributions, including "the first discussion of the stereographic process (which Aguilon named), one of the earliest presentations of the red-yellow-blue color system, an original theory of binocular vision [later disproved], and the first published description of Aguilon's horopter" (Norman). This edition is one of only seven books known to have been illustrated by Rubens. The title-page is replete with references to the "alliance of vision and reason... The title-page alone would suggest no more than an illustrator's job well and professionally done. However, the vignettes which Rubens provided for the individual title pages of each of the six books show such a complex and knowing relationship to the text as to leave no doubt that Rubens's intellectual involvement was considerable..." (Martin Kemp, The Science of Art , 1990, pp. 101-104). Aguilon's color theory and his prescriptions for the mixing of colors were used by Rubens in his paintings. Becker 6; De Backer-Sommervogel I:90 no. 1; Hofer Baroque Book Illustration 116; NLM/Krivatsy 92; Norman 25.

Auction archive: Lot number 239
Auction:
Datum:
15 Jun 1998 - 16 Jun 1998
Auction house:
Christie's
New York, Park Avenue
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