(BOTTARI, Giovanni)
Firenze, 1770
In 12mo, pp. VIII, 346; vellum, golden title on spine, copperengraved frontispiece. The second edition of “Dialoghi”,originally published in Lucca, 1754, and reprinted in 1770,still in an anonymous form. In the five dialogues that composethis work, the archaeologist Pietro Bellori and thepainter Carlo Maratta speak about the perfection of thethree arts. A librarian for the Vatican and councelor for ClementeXII, Bottari (1689-1775) was the author of manyworks on art: in these “Dialoghi” he blames collectors,who, according to him, don’t understand arts. Of big interest,furthermore, his theories on preservation and restorationof antiquities. Bottari was also an editor of the Cruscadictionnary of ‘41, and he was a leader of the linguistic debateof his time.
