Richard Collin after Joh. Sandrart Engraving Published 1679. ORIGINAL in very good overall condition. Sometimes referred to as the “German Vasari,” Joachim von Sandrart, born in Frankfurt, trained first as a printmaker, notably in Nuremberg, and in Prague with Aegidius Sadeler. After a long and successful career in the foremost artistic circles in England, Italy, and the Netherlands, he returned to Germany and painted for Emperor Ferdinand III, for which he was ennobled in 1673. In the latter part of his life, Sandrart settled in Nuremberg and turned to publishing projects and teaching. His most important publication, the Academia todesca, better known as the Teutsche Academie, was the first comprehensive treatise on the history of art written in German. The first volume, dated 1675, offered theoretical and historical accounts of the arts of architecture, sculpture, and painting, lavishly illustrated with hundreds of prints, many depicting objects in notable collections. It also included sections on the lives and stylistic characteristics of famous artists from classical antiquity to Sandrart’s own time. A second volume, published in 1679, expanded these areas and added a translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Very good condition.