ZOCCHI, Giuseppe (1711-1767)

Veduta del Palazzo del Sigre. Principe Strozzi, e della Strada che conduce al Ponte a S. Trinita. T.XIII

Florence: 1744. Copper-engraving by Baldassare Gabbugiani of Rome after Zocchi. Sheet size: 23 3/8 x 30 5/8 inches.

A very fine image of 18th-century Florence by one of the four greatest view painters of the period.

`The Strozzi Palace and the Street leading to the Ponte Santa Trinita… [In] the foreground [is] the magnificent Renaissance palace begun in 1489 for Filippo Strozzi. The names of several designers and architects have been associated with the palace: Benedetto da Maiano, Guliano da Sangallo, and Cronaca. The fine wrought-iron lanterns, torch holders, and rings on the ground floor were made by Niccolò Grosso Caparra about 1500. The construction of the building extended well into the sixteenth century; the rear of the palace and the cornice remained incomplete until it was restored in 1938.' (E.E.Dee Views of Florence and Tuscany by Giuseppe Zocchi New York: Pierpont Morgan Library, 1968 item 15). What Francesco Guardi and Canaletto did for Venice and Giovanni-Battista Piranesi did for Rome, Giuseppe Zocchi (1711-1767) did for Florence. The Marchese Andrea Gerini commissioned Zocchi to record all the greatest landmarks in Florence and its environs, which he did in a series of drawings that are now in the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York. These drawings were translated into engravings by Zocchi and a number of other engravers and issued in two series in 1744 titled `Scelta XXIV vedute delle principali contrade, piazze, chiese, e palazzi della città di Firenze' and Vedute delle ville e d'altri luoghi della Toscana'. Little is known of Zocchi's life: he was born near Florence and studied in Venice and Bologna, a painter as well as a draughtsman, he was the official designer for the Pietre Dure (the so-called "Florentine mosaic") factory in Florence from 1754 to 1760.

Item #2730

Price: $2,250.00