De claris mulieribus - photo 1
De claris mulieribus - photo 2

De claris mulieribus

Lot 231
19.10.2023 10:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Sold
$ 27 720
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
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The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1032883
Lot 231 | De claris mulieribus
Estimate value
$ 20 000 – 30 000
Jacobus FORESTI DA BERGAMO (1434-1520). De claris mulieribus. Ferrara: Laurentius de Rubeis, de Valentia, 29 April 1497.

First edition of "one of the finest early Italian illustrated books, and the first to include contemporary woodcut portraits from life," from the library of Maria Benigna Francisca, Princess Piccolomini (Baskin). This encyclopedia of famous women stretches from antiquity—crediting Isis with the invention of writing and Nichostrata with the invention of numbers and computation—to the author's contemporaries both in Italy and abroad. While most of the fine woodcuts depict stock types (martyrs, scholars, warrior women, etc.), the final seven portraits are thought to be taken from life, executed in a noticeably different style. Five of the seven have been identified: Bianca Maria Sforza; Catherina Countess of Forlì and Imola; Leonora of Aragon, wife of Ercole d'Este; Danisella Trivulzia; and Cassandra Fidelis. A full-page woodcut depicts Jacobus presenting the book to Beatrice of Aragon, the dedicatee. Because she died in 1491, some scholars suspect that the printed book is based on a manuscript composed rather earlier; one of the woodcut borders is also dated 1493, perhaps indicating that Rubeis was planning this work for some years. Goff J-204; Bod-inc J-085; BMC VI 613; BSB-Ink I-120; ISTC ij00204000; Ford BPH 126; Baskin 3.

Chancery folio (306 x 199mm). 176 leaves. Xylographic title page, two full page woodcuts within woodcut borders, woodcut border framing first text page, woodcut portraits throughout, printer's device at end (occasional faint dampstains, light fingersoiling at ends with small repair to register leaf, final gathering reinforced at gutter). Contemporary quarter morocco over wooden boards, clasps, catchplates (remboitage). Custom box. Provenance: occasional marginal comments and underlining, erased stamp – Maria Benigna Francisca, Princess Piccolomini, 1635-1701 (bookplate) – Austrian Federal Monuments office (Bundesdenkmalamt) stamp, 1920s.
Artist:Jacopo Filippo di Bergamo (1434 - 1520)
Place of origin:Italy
Auction house category:Antiquarian books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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