MICHELANGELO - CELLINI, Benvenuto - TARSIA, Giovanni Maria. Oratione o vero discorso fatto nell'essequie del divino Michelagnolo Buonarroti. Con alcuni sonetti, e prose latine e volgari di diversi, circa il disparere occorso tra gli scultori, e pittori.
Fiorenza, appresso Bartolomeo Sermartelli, 1564
First edition of the funeral oration delivered upon the death of Michelangelo by the Florentine man of letters Giovanni Maria Tarsia (fl. 1564-1607). The volume also contains his dedication to the painter Agnolo Bronzino, a discorso by Benvenuto Cellini "on the difference between sculptors and painters", verses by Antonfrancesco Grazzini detto "Il Lasca" in response to Cellini, and verses contributed by a "B.P. Flor", Giovanni Girolamo Fiorelli, and Michele Capri. It concludes with a series of sonnets in praise of Michelangelo.
A very important work for the description of the complex funeral apparatus, the authorship of which is attributed to Borghini.
8vo; 201 x 146 mm. Nineteenth-century marbled paper boards, housed in modern dark blue cloth folding case. Italic and some roman type, 40 lines. Collation: A-C4 D6: 18 unnumbered leaves. Title-page with Medici's woodcut device, woodcut initials. Illegible annotation on the title page. “J[ose] Maria di Candia", nineteenth-century inscription in purple ink on title-page and printed shelflabel pasted to verso of endleaf. Some marginal dampstaining, Boards slightly rubbed.