Patin, Charles (1633-1693).

Le Pompose Feste Di Vicenza Fatte Nel Mese Di Giugno, Del 1680

      Padua: Giovanni Battista Pasquati, 1680. 4to., (9 x 6 6/8 inches). 2 fine double-page engraved plates depicting the festival carriage and the jousting, one folding plate of the Ruota, 3 engraved vignettes of coins in the text, 2 fine engraved vignette head-pieces, woodcut ornament on title-page and at end, woodcut ornamental initials (small repair at the fold of the Ruota plate, double-page plates lightly browned at gutter, tissue reinforcements along gutters of text leaves). Later decorated paper wrappers; modern cloth folding case. Provenance: The Paul and Marianne Gourary Collection of Illustrated Fete Books "Splendid Ceremonies", with their small bookplate on the front paste-down. First edition, with pasted correction slip on page 103. The magnificent plates include two fine views of the Piazza de' Signori, and particularly of the Basilica Palladiana, which, as its name suggests, was designed by the most influential Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508-1580). Construction began in 1549 but was not completed until some years after his death in 1614. The engraving shows in fine detail the two-storey colonnade, or loggia, which is one of the earliest examples of what is now known as the Palladian window. Patin's detailed account of the history of the Festival of Corpus Christi held in Vicenza in 1680 is preceded by a history of the festival from Ancient Greece to the 17th-century. As with many medieval celebrations the solemnity of religious devotion is combined with the pomp of a great pagan festival. In Vicenza the festival of La Rua, or La Ruota, commemorating an ancient victory of Vicenza over its Paduan rulers, is celebrated on the same day, and the towering monument built for the occasion of the festival in 1680 is shown in the third engraving. A tournament was held (depicted in all its spectacle in the second engraving) between cavaliers and statues of mythical beasts; there were banquets and balls, and a horse race, in addition to the religious procession. Although paginated [91-114], bibliogr