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“A course in the art of measurement was the first of the theoretical writings on art which Albrecht Dürer
composed towards the end of his life. Its immediate object was to explain the application of practical
geometry to drawing and painting and to teach the principles of perspective. These methods were to be
applied to architecture, painting, lettering … and ornamental forms in general… Dürer illustrated his
book with woodcuts, some of which show the apparatus he constructed in order to produce correct drawing
by mechanical rather than mathematical means… Dürer’s work first presented to Northern Europe the
completely new attitude to artistic creation which had crystallized in Italy during the Renaissance…
The connection of the beautiful with the natural, of the work of art with what is correct (I.E. mathematical)
was a typical concept of the Renaissance. In the illustration of these principles lies the great importance
of Dürer’s theoretical writings”
(PMM).
Le bois dépliant rapporté page 181 coupé anciennement et restauré très tôt en reprenant légèrement
le dessin ; petites rousseurs, pages 1/2 anciennement mises sur onglet, nom d’Érasme (f. a2v) masqué
par un becquet mais encore visible.
First edition, early issue, of the Latin translation by Camerarius Dürer’s first book on the theory of art,
illustrated by the artist himself. In this work Dürer teaches the principles of perspective and explains
the application of practical geometry to drawing and painting. Book three contains Dürer’s famous
treatise on the just shaping of Roman capital letters and gothic or textured letters.