Abraham Bosse - Traité des manières de dessiner les ordins de l'architecture antique en toutes leurs parties - 1688

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Abraham Bosse

Treatise on the methods of drawing the orders of ancient architecture in all their parts.
Parigi: Pierre Aubouin, Pierre Emery, Charles Clousier, no date [connected with:]
Column orders in architecture, and several other dependencies called the same. S.l.: s.n., s.d. [e con:]
Geometric representations of various parts of buildings made according to the rules of antique architecture. Paris: [n.p.], 1688.

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Physical description and collection.

Treatise on the methods of drawing the orders of ancient architecture in all their parts: 6 unpaginated pages, 44 paginated pages.

- Orders of columns in architecture, and several dependencies thereof: 2 unnumbered pages, 23 numbered pages, a double-page table.

Geometric representations of various parts of buildings made according to the rules of ancient architecture: 20 numbered pages.


A folio volume (382 × 240 mm) containing three works on architecture, collectively supplemented by approximately 92 engraved plates: 46 in the first work, 24 in the second (including one double-page), and 22 in the third. There are three engraved frontispieces. Some plates from the second work are bound into the third, and vice versa; plates I and II of the third part are inserted into the second. Additionally, the second work includes three unnumbered plates, two of which are not present in the digital copies consulted. Despite the irregularities in collation, the copy appears complete.

Modern binding in half leather with calf back on marbled boards, gilt title and decorations on the spine. Traces of adhesive tape on the frontispiece of the first work, slight browning and scattered stains. Old ownership inscription erased on the title.

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The author

Abraham Bosse (Tours, circa 1604 – Paris, 1676) was an engraver, theorist, and writer among the most significant of 17th-century France. Coming from a Huguenot family, he trained in Paris under Melchior Tavernier and soon established himself as an author of engravings with everyday and didactic subjects, characterized by extraordinary technical precision.

The encounter with Gérard Desargues, mathematician and theorist of perspective, marked a decisive turning point in his career: Bosse became the main disseminator of his ideas and applied Desargues' geometric and perspective principles to architectural drawing and the representation of space. Starting from the 1640s, he published a series of fundamental treatises dedicated to perspective, engraving, and architecture, distinguished by the originality of his method and clarity of exposition.

A theoretical artist and teacher, Bosse consistently pursued the goal of combining the craft practice of the artisan with the science of the surveyor, anticipating a modern approach to technical drawing education. He was a member of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, from which he later distanced himself due to theoretical disagreements over the teaching of perspective.

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The printers

The frontispiece of the first work lists the names of the Parisian typographers Pierre Aubouin, Pierre Emery, and Charles Clousier, active in the second half of the 17th century. The co-publication of three printing workshops testifies to the ambitious and costly nature of the editorial project, which required high-quality engraving and a complex printing organization.

The third work bears the date 1688, likely related to a posthumous reprint, while the first two were originally published in 1659 and 1664. The work experienced several editions and reprints between the second half of the 17th century and the early 18th century, indicating its popularity and the lasting interest from architects and designers.

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Historical and cultural context

The theoretical works of Abraham Bosse are set within the intellectual climate of French classicism, a period of great attention to proportions, harmony, and the codification of the arts of drawing. In the seventeenth century, particularly during the reign of Louis XIV, architecture became a symbol of order, power, and rationality: the classical form and geometric rule became tools of political expression as well as aesthetic.

In this context, Bosse represents an intermediate figure between the practical artist and the theorist of geometry: his aim was not so much to propose a new architectural style as to provide a scientific method for representation, useful to draftsmen, architects, and artisans. His contribution lies in systematizing the application of geometric rules to architectural orders, translating into measurable images and diagrams the proportions of the ancient.

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Content and structure of the work

The three works collected here constitute a coherent corpus of technical-educational treatises intended for learning and practicing architectural drawing.
Treatise on the methods of drawing the orders of ancient architecture in all their parts.
It presents the fundamental principles for the graphic representation of the architectural orders — Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan, and Composite — illustrating with utmost precision the construction of bases, shafts, capitals, cornices, and pediments. The plates, skillfully engraved, show the proportional relationships between the parts and the scale reduction method of the measurements.
2. Column orders in architecture, and several other dependencies of it.
Deepen the study of columns and their components, also addressing accessory elements such as stairs, balustrades, cornices, and decorative details. The text accompanies the engravings with a clear and practical language, aimed at translating the theory of proportions into practical drawing procedures.
3. Geometric representations of parts of buildings based on ancient architectural rules.
Present a series of examples of applying proportional and perspective rules to buildings and parts of buildings, illustrated with geometric representations and orthogonal projections. The author also introduces the use of innovative tools, such as the Cartesian compass, for calculating and measuring proportions.

Overall, the volume stands out for the quality of the engravings, the graphic clarity, and the rigorous approach of the method. The plates constitute a rare example of visual teaching pre-litteram, where the image has autonomous explanatory value, capable of immediately conveying the principles of architectural form.

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Meaning and importance

The architectural works of Abraham Bosse represent a fundamental milestone in the history of the theory of technical drawing. Unlike the great Italian Renaissance treatises — from Vitruvius to Vignola and Palladio — Bosse focuses on the graphic transposition of architectural principles, introducing an operational methodology based on geometry and measurement.

His contribution lies in the desire to make the rules of 'antica' architecture accessible to practitioners and artisans, bridging the gap between academic theory and workshop practice. The clarity of the engravings and the systematic order of the exposition made these treatises reference tools for generations of French architects and draftsmen.

The editions by Aubouin, Emery, and Clousier, and later that of 1688, testify to the lasting editorial success of the work and its dissemination across Europe. Today, the three treatises are considered not only for their educational value but also for the technical refinement of the engravings, executed according to the highest standards of 17th-century Parisian engraving art.

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Bibliographic rarity and collecting

Complete copies of Bosse's three treatises, especially in first or early editions, are rare in the antiquarian market. The presence of the three engraved title pages and the plates in nearly complete or complete sets confers significant bibliographic value to the specimen.

Similar specimens are preserved in major institutions, including the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington. The late reprints (up to 1688) are considered witnesses to a long editorial tradition that helped establish Bosse's role as a bridge between art, technique, and the science of drawing.

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Summary

A monumental work of great historical and artistic interest, the Traité des manières de dessiner les ordres de l’architecture antique and the two treatises accompanying it constitute an emblematic testimony of the encounter between art, geometry, and architecture in 17th-century France.
This volume, richly illustrated and of extraordinary technical precision, represents an essential source for the study of classical architectural theory and the teaching of drawing in the age of Louis XIV.