Domenichino 1582 – 1641 (1982) (2 vols)

For more than two centuries, Domenichino (1581–1641) was one of the world’s most famous painters. Judged Domenichino’s Last Communion of St. Jerome to be second only to Raphael’s Transfiguration, and artists from David to Ingres, from Constable to Degas, learned from his example. A major fresco painter, landscapist, and draftsman, Domenichino created some of the most beautiful and influential works that has come to be called the “classical ideal” style of the seventeenth century.

This book is the first systematic, complete study of the artist’s life and work. In Bologna, Rome, and Naples, all known paintings and preparatory drawings, as well as numerous lost and rejected works, are discussed in one of the most thorough catalogues raisonnés chapters ever devoted to an individual painter. His biography of apprenticeship and relationships with his patrons, colleagues, and rivals, to his personality, theoretical ideas, and keen devotion to music. To his numerous but little-studied designs for architecture and decorative objects; to his active Roman and Neapolitan studios; and especially to the sources and development of the style of the figural paintings, landscapes, and drawings. An epilogue turns the historical tale in the history of taste from that of one of the most celebrated masters, according to Stendhal, to the status of an “art weed,” according to Ruskin.

Four hundred and thirty-two black and white illustrations and eight color plates reproduce every painting and many of Domenichino’s drawings. An appendix of unpublished documents, including contracts with the artist and autograph letters, a lengthy bibliography, and full indexes complement the text and catalogue.

Condition: Publisher’s plain cloth binding, without titling to the spine or boards, possibly an early or trial binding, otherwise a very good set. Cloth boards of both volumes lightly rubbed at the extremities. Both text blocks show light spotting to the edges. Dust-wrappers of both volumes a little shelf-worn, with faint spotting to the versos; final page of text volume a little toned.