Andrea Pozzo - Perspective - 1725

Between Divine Vision and Celestial Geometries: The Secret Language of Baroque Perspective
In folio, illustrated and sumptuously printed, this famous treatise on scenographic perspective fuses art, science, and Baroque spirituality in a work that revolutionized painting and illusionistic architecture. The Belgian edition of 1725, based on Boxbarth's adaptation, remains faithful to the grandeur of the visual design devised by Andrea Pozzo and stands as one of the most fascinating testimonials of Jesuit art.
Market value
Complete copies of both sides, in good condition and with all plates, can be found on the antiques market today for between €3,500 and €4,500. Fine copies in contemporary or finely restored bindings, especially those with significant provenance, can fetch over €5,000.

Physical description and condition
In Folio - 214 plates in two volumes - Part 1) title (2 pp.), plate (2 pp.), notice (2 pp.), description (of 100 plates in 110 pp.). Part 2) title (ii pp.), introduction (3 pp.), descriptions (of 114 plates on 91 pp.), instructions (9 pp.), plate (5 pp.). - All texts in French and Dutch, printed on facing pages (turning quarto), or the French text beneath the Dutch.
2 volumes. Half leather binding with a gold-engraved title on the spine. Text in French and German. With numerous full-page copperplate illustrations illustrating architectural and scenic examples of deceptive perspective, some stains and smudges. Many antique books, with centuries of history, present some imperfections that are not always noted in the description. The work is in good condition.

Full title and author
First and Second Part of the Perspective of Painters and Building Masters… printed in Rome by Brother Andreas Pozzo S.J. in the Italian and Latin language. And in 1708 made in a smaller form in Latin and High German by Johannes Boxbarth… Première et Deuxième Partie de la Perspective des Peintres et Architectes, first invented, drawn and printed in Rome by Brother André Pozzo … And the year 1708 shaped in a smaller form in Latin and German by Jean Boxbarth …
Brussels, François Serstevens, 1725.
Pozzo, Andreas & J. Boxbarth

Context and Significance
The treatise of Andrea Pozzo, a Jesuit and Baroque painter (1642–1709), is one of the absolute masterpieces of seventeenth-century artistic treatises. The “Perspectiva pictorum et architectorum,” first published in Rome between 1693 and 1700, is a technical-spiritual guide to the use of perspective in painting, especially in architectural ornament and in illusionistic quadrature. The present 1725 edition is a reworking by Johannes Boxbarth in Augsburg, published in Brussels by François Serstevens, which preserves the original’s iconographic magnificence while adapting its format. The work was a fundamental reference for generations of artists across Europe, helping to spread the illusionistic style typical of Jesuit decoration in churches, palaces, and theaters. It is at once a technical manual and a symbolic itinerary: perspective becomes a tool to guide humanity’s gaze toward the divine, in a path of revelation and wonder.

Short biography of the author
Andrea Pozzo was born in Trento in 1642 and died in Vienna in 1709. A painter, architect, and Jesuit theorist, he was among the leading figures of Baroque art, renowned for his illusionistic frescoes such as the ceiling of Sant’Ignazio in Rome. His work combines geometric rigor, scenic invention, and theological depth, becoming the model for religious painting in perspective. Johannes Boxbarth, an engraver and printer active in Augsburg, oversaw the German-Latin edition in a reduced format in 1708.

Printing history and circulation
The first edition of the work was published in Latin and Italian in Rome by Barbiellini between 1693 and 1700. After European success, Johann Boxbarth oversaw an adaptation in Latin and German, published in Augsburg in 1708. The present edition, printed in Brussels in 1725 by François Serstevens, revisits Pozzo's iconographic project, also translating it into French and presenting it in a sumptuous graphical presentation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Cicognara, 814
Berlin Cat. 4720
Fowler 245
Millard, Italian Books, n. 121
Thieme-Becker, XXVII, pp. 268–270
Sommervogel, Library of the Society of Jesus, Vol. VI, col. 1965