SIMONETA, Johannes (d.1491)

Lot 68
10.12.2025 12:00UTC +00:00
Classic
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
ID 1514518
Lot 68 | SIMONETA, Johannes (d.1491)
Estimate value
£ 4 000 – 6 000
SIMONETA, Johannes (d.1491)
Commentarii rerum gestarum Francisci Sfortiae. Edited by Franciscus Puteolanus. Milan: Antonius Zarotus, 23 September 1486.
Second edition of ‘the most important humanist historiographical achievement to emerge from Milan in the 15th century’ (Ianziti).

This biography of the illustrious Francesco Sforza, a cunning military leader who declared himself duke of Milan in 1450 after the Visconti succession had ended, had significant political repercussions. Simoneta was a member of the inner circle of the Sforza entourage under Francesco, and he wrote this history not only to glorify his patron and the Sforza family, but also to assert the legitimacy of the Sforzas as dukes of Milan. Its larger political purpose was to aid in the Sforzas' attempt to gain imperial investiture, a goal established by Francesco and pursued by his son, Lodovico il Moro. To this end Lodovico was involved in first bringing Simoneta's work into print; however, it was by the marriage of his niece, Bianca Maria Sforza, to Maximilian I that he finally achieved his goal. Lodovico regarded the biography of his father so highly that he spared Simoneta's life, although condemning Simoneta's brother Cecco to death on trumped-up charges of treason in 1480. HC *14755; BMC VI, 719 (IB. 26039); BSB-Ink S-406; Goff S-533; ISTC is00533000; G. Ianziti, Humanistic Historiography under the Sforzas (1988).

Chancery folio (280 x 197mm). 188 leaves. (Variable staining, last few leaves with small marginal rust hole, a few small wormholes.) 19th-century vellum. Provenance: frequent early marginal annotations – evidence of bookplate removed from upper pastedown.
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