Cours de peinture par principes.

12mo: front-[4]-493-[19] pp.; 2 pl. (soiling, marg. damp. stains, ff. sl. browned).

Contemp. mottled calf, gilt orn. spine with raised bands, red edges (sm. lack of leather to front cover, some sm. imperfections to the spine, sm. ink stains).

First edition of one of the most renowned works of Piles. With the famous chapter "La balance des peintres", a list of 57 major painters to which the author gives marks from 0 to 18 for composition, drawing, colour and expression. Illustrated with 1 frontispiece and 2 plates. The French painter and art critic R. de Piles (1635-1709), was "Conseiller honoraire" to the Académie de peinture et de sculpture in Paris.
Ref. Conlon, Préludes, 14835.
Prov. 19th-c. ms. entries.