Giovio, Paolo

Lot 309
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Estimation :
2000 - 4000 EUR
Giovio, Paolo
Vitae duodecim vicecomitum Mediolani principum. Paris, Robert Estienne, 1549. In-4 (226 x 168 mm), 199 pp. on soft vellum (contemporary binding). Renouard, Estienne, 75:20; Schreiber, 103; Fairfax-Murray, I, 195; Mortimer, French, 248; Brun, p. 39, & 228. Original edition. The Lives of the Counts of Milan is the fifth and last illustrated book from the press of Robert Estienne. It contains the history of the Visconti family dynasty, admirably illustrated with 10 large portraits, woodcut from an illuminated manuscript (now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France). Sometimes attributed to Geoffroy Tory, it seems more likely that the portraits were engraved by Jacquemin Woeiriot. "Illustrated with 10 splendid woodcut portraits of the dukes of Milan. These woodcuts are signed with the Lorraine cross, which, together with their superior quality, led to an attribution to Geoffroy Tory; other artists have also been suggested, including Woeiriot. The ditinguished humanist Paolo Giovio (1483-1552) wrote these biographical sketches of the dukes of Milan to accompany paintings of them then in existence. The present woodcut portraits are reduced copies of illuminated portraits in the original manuscript (now preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale), which were in turn copied from the sources specified by Giovio in his text" (Schreiber). [Bound with:] GIOVIO, Paolo. Abridged history of the vicontes and dukes of Milan, the right of which belongs to the crown of France. Extracted in part from the book of Paulus Iovius. Paris, Charles Estienne, 1552. In-4 of 46 ff.n.ch. Renouard, 104:12; Schreiber, 131. Original edition of the abridged version of the French translation. Dedicated to the Duke of Montmorency, it is adorned with the same 10 portraits that illustrate the Latin original of 1549. "This French abridgement of Giovio's biographical history of the Visconti dynasty is from the pen of Charles Estienne himself, who dedicates it to the Duc de Montmorency. It is illustrated with the same large woodcut portraits as the original Latin edition printed by Robert Estienne" (Schreiber). A fine copy.
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