DescriptionLomazzo, a trained painter, was a notable figure in the intellectual circles of late-sixteenth-century northern Italy. When blindness forced an end to his life as an artist at the age of thirty-three, Lomazzo devoted himself to writing about art. His treatises on artists and art theories are still recognized as some of the most important works of the period focusing on Mannerism. The "Trattato" is one of his most scholarly and ambitious undertakings. Notable are his biographies of contemporary artists working in northern Italy as well as those of artists of the preceeding generation. Especially important is Lomazzo's discussion of Leonardo. More than a Vasari of Milan, however, Lomazzo gives detailed practical instruction on the creation of art. The Library's copy is in an eighteenth-century, red goatskin binding, all edges gilt.

 

Illustrated: book 1, title page, woodcut portrait of Lomazzo