Dürer - Symmetria Partium Humanorum Corporum - 1557

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MATHEMATICS, BEAUTY AND POWER OF THE BODIES, IN DURER'S SYMMETRY
A cornerstone work of Renaissance thought, De symmetria partium humanorum corporum represents one of the highest moments in the meeting of art, science, and natural philosophy. In this treatise, the human body is interpreted as an harmonious structure governed by universal mathematical laws, becoming measure and model of the entire visible cosmos. The Paris edition of 1557, in the Latin translation by Joachim Camerarius, marks a decisive turning point in the European diffusion of Dürer’s thought, making it accessible to the learned community and artists across the continent. The work transcends a simple manual of proportions to become an inquiry into measurement as an organizing principle of reality, where geometry and number assume a cognitive function that touches on a symbolic and esoteric dimension.

WHY TO BUY
**DÜRER AS THEORETICIAN OF BEAUTY** – One of the fundamental Renaissance treatises, where the human body becomes a subject of investigation through mathematics, geometry and proportion.
**ART AND SCIENCE UNITED** – An extraordinary work in which the artist seeks to translate the beauty and variety of the human body into numerical relationships and geometric constructions.
**STUNNING WOODCUT APPARATUS** – Numerous illustrations, including full-page and folded plates, transform Dürer’s theory into a fascinating visual atlas of the human figure.
**A CLASSIC OF EUROPEAN RENAISSANCE** – The Latin Camerarius edition helped spread Dürer’s ideas internationally, influencing artists and theorists well beyond the German-speaking world.

MARKET VALUE
Complete copies in good condition of this 1557 Paris edition typically range from €4,000 to €8,000, with higher values for particularly fresh copies or contemporaneous bindings, while complete copies with well-preserved illustrated apparatus are increasingly scarce on the market.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Seventeenth-century full parchment binding with gilt titles on a brown spine label. Woodcut publisher’s mark on the title page, woodcut initials. Rich illustrative apparatus consisting of numerous woodcuts, many full-page and some folding plates. Burnished steam of toning and small tears with minor losses (no loss of text) on the first fascicle, with restorations and reinforcements on numerous leaves, some touching the incisions, missing leaves t2–t5. Presence of halos on some leaves; folding plates with pale reddening, foxing and restorations, with minimal loss on leaf r1. In antique books with a long history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. Pp. (2); 8 folded; 244; (2).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
De symmetria partium humanorum corporum libri quatuor, in Germanic language, translated into Latin.
Parisiis, in officina Caroli Perier, 1557.
Albrecht Dürer.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Originally published in 1528, shortly after Dürer’s death, this treatise represents the culmination of the artist’s theoretical reflection on human proportion and the relationship between art and science. The work is organized into four books: the first two define the ideal proportions of the male and female body through numerical modules and geometric constructions; the third introduces physiological and typological variations, broadening the concept of norm toward a plurality of forms; the fourth addresses movement and deformity, anticipating a dynamic and transformative conception of the body. The Latin translation by Camerarius played a fundamental role in circulating the text within European humanism, aligning it ideologically with Vitruvius’s models and the theories of Leon Battista Alberti. In this perspective, the human body becomes the measure of the world and a place of synthesis between mathematics, aesthetics and natural philosophy, while proportion takes on the role of a universal language capable of revealing an hidden order of reality.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Albrecht Dürer (Nuremberg, 1471 – 1528) was one of the leading figures of the European Renaissance, painter, engraver and art theorist. Trained in the Germanic milieu but deeply influenced by Italian humanism, he developed a systematic interest in mathematics, perspective and proportions. His theoretical works aim to ground art on scientific bases, elevating the artist’s figure to that of an intellectual capable of investigating and codifying the laws of nature.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The first edition of the treatise appeared in 1528, simultaneously in German and Latin, marking a decisive moment in the transfer of artistic knowledge from craft to theory and academia. Subsequent reprints, including this Paris edition of 1557, attest to the enduring fortune of the work, used as a reference text for artists, architects and scholars. The edition printed by Caroli Perier sits within the context of mid-16th-century French publishing, contributing to the stabilization and international diffusion of Dürer’s thought.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
EDIT16 CNCE 17642
ICCU/OPAC SBN: IT\ICCU\TO0E\041104
USTC 145676
Adams D-1043
Brunet II, col. 876
Mortimer, Harvard Italian 16th Century Books, I, p. 173
Panofsky, The Life and Art of Albrecht Dürer, Princeton, 1955, pp. 255–270
Strauss, The Complete Drawings of Albrecht Dürer, New York, 1974
Kemp, The Science of Art, New Haven, 1990, pp. 93–115