KOCH, Joseph Anton.

Moderne Kunstchronik. Briefe zweier Freunde in Rom und der Tartarei über das moderne Kunstleben und -Treiben; oder die Rumfordische Suppe, gekocht und geschrieben ... in Rom.

Carlsruhe, Velten, 1834. Small 8vo, pp. [4], 112; a little foxing here and there but a good copy bound in modern boards. Rare first edition of this satirical and scandalous account of the life of foreign artists in Rome in the first half of the 19th century, in which Koch ruthlessly attacks and ridicules aesthetic views held dearly in contemporary Germany. Koch also takes swipes at the cult of connoisseurs, and ridicules collectors and art patrons. Although satirical in tone the work gives a vivid account of the burgeoning art market in Italy and Germany in that period. The book is written in a series of letters exchanged between the author and a fictitious English friend from Manchester.Joseph Anton Koch (1768-1839), a celebrated landscape painter of Tyrolean peasant stock, lived in Rome from 1794 to 1812. He moved for three years to Vienna only to return to Rome in 1815 where he lived until his death. He was among one of the most respected foreign artists living in Italy and a cornerstone of the colony of German artists. Rare: OCLC and RLIN locate only the Getty and Chicago copy; no copy in NUC; KVK locates only one copy in Germany. A reprint was issued in Hanau in 1984.

• GBP 750.00 > other currencies
• ordernr.: A1161

• bookseller: Bernard Quaritch Ltd. (GREAT BRITAIN)