Vies des fameux architectes depuis la Renaissance des arts, avec la description de leurs ouvrages. Vies des fameux sculpteurs, depuis la Renaissance des arts...

New edition, rare and posthumous, illustrated with two allegorical frontispieces by Renou and engraved by Robert.
Contemporary full marbled calf bindings. Raised band spines decorated with compartmented onion tools and roulettes, red morocco title labels. One lack at head of volume I and a cut at head of volume II (with slight lack). Upper joint of volume I cracked at head, and upper joint of volume II narrowly cracked at tail. 2 corners bumped. Rubbing. Light offsetting from the engraving on the title page of volume I. Margins foxed on half-title and final leaves. Despite the few defects mentioned, a handsome copy with quality binding.
The Lives of Architects and Sculptors are preceded by the Discourse on Architecture (84p.), and the Discourse on Sculpture (36p.). These biographies are classified by nationality; besides the biographical elements proper, the principal buildings realized and books written are also detailed. We count for Italian architects 17 entries, 2 for the English, only one for the Germans, and 23 for the French. The proportion is equivalent for sculptors. Dezallier D'Argenville had previously given an Abridgment of the Lives of Painters, and wanted to rival this work, which Vasari had undertaken during the Renaissance with his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects.