Details
GUALTEROTTI, Raffaello. Feste nelle nozze del Serenissimo Don Francesco Medici Gran Duca di Toscana; et della Sereniss. sua consorte la Sig. Bianca Capello. Florence: Filippo and Jacopo Giunta, 1579.
4° (228 x 152mm). Title with woodcut border incorporating Medici arms and view of Florence, 16 etched plates of the chariots and costumes for the celebrations by Accursio Baldi and Bastiano Marsili after Gualterotti, six printed in red and ten in green, woodcut historiated initials and printers' device. (Light dampstaining to upper outer corner, several plates with plate-mark just shaved, not affecting image, plate L just shaved at one corner due to paper fault, very light spotting.) 18th-century gilt paper (spine lightly rubbed).
FIRST EDITION of the full description of the wedding festivities of Francesco Medici and Bianco Capello, this issue with all the plates printed in colour. Although the words 'Nuovamente Ristampate' on the title-page indicate the existence of an earlier edition, none has been traced, except for a reference on leaf A4v to a 'cartello' for a celebration on 14th October [1579]. Mortimer writes: "If this 'cartello' were a printed program for the performance written by Gualterotti, it would justify the 'Ristampate' note on this title-page." In this copy the title border block is in the second state (with the grand ducal crown added above the Medici arms) and the plate of Venus's chariot is also in the second state, with her head turned away from the swans). As well as describing the festivities, the volume also includes verses composed by Gualterotti, 'Vaghezze sopra Pratolino' and an 'Epitalamio'.
The marriage between Francesco and Bianca was celebrated on 12 October 1579, and the accompanying celebrations at the Palazzo Pitti were reputed to have cost at least 300,000 ducats. Bianca Capello, who was born into one of Venice's most patrician families, had been Francesco Medici's mistress, and on the death of his wife in June 1578, had secretly married him. However, wishing for a more public recognition of her status, she persuaded Francesco to declare openly his intention to marry her, and to form a firm alliance with her native republic. The wedding festivities were attended by two ambassadors and ninety nobles from Venice to celebrate this new alliance. Mortimer, Harvard Italian 223; Vinet 605 (records 15 plates only); Brunet II, 1772-3 (15 plates only); Lipperheide Si 10; Cicognara 1388.
4° (228 x 152mm). Title with woodcut border incorporating Medici arms and view of Florence, 16 etched plates of the chariots and costumes for the celebrations by Accursio Baldi and Bastiano Marsili after Gualterotti, six printed in red and ten in green, woodcut historiated initials and printers' device. (Light dampstaining to upper outer corner, several plates with plate-mark just shaved, not affecting image, plate L just shaved at one corner due to paper fault, very light spotting.) 18th-century gilt paper (spine lightly rubbed).
FIRST EDITION of the full description of the wedding festivities of Francesco Medici and Bianco Capello, this issue with all the plates printed in colour. Although the words 'Nuovamente Ristampate' on the title-page indicate the existence of an earlier edition, none has been traced, except for a reference on leaf A4v to a 'cartello' for a celebration on 14th October [1579]. Mortimer writes: "If this 'cartello' were a printed program for the performance written by Gualterotti, it would justify the 'Ristampate' note on this title-page." In this copy the title border block is in the second state (with the grand ducal crown added above the Medici arms) and the plate of Venus's chariot is also in the second state, with her head turned away from the swans). As well as describing the festivities, the volume also includes verses composed by Gualterotti, 'Vaghezze sopra Pratolino' and an 'Epitalamio'.
The marriage between Francesco and Bianca was celebrated on 12 October 1579, and the accompanying celebrations at the Palazzo Pitti were reputed to have cost at least 300,000 ducats. Bianca Capello, who was born into one of Venice's most patrician families, had been Francesco Medici's mistress, and on the death of his wife in June 1578, had secretly married him. However, wishing for a more public recognition of her status, she persuaded Francesco to declare openly his intention to marry her, and to form a firm alliance with her native republic. The wedding festivities were attended by two ambassadors and ninety nobles from Venice to celebrate this new alliance. Mortimer, Harvard Italian 223; Vinet 605 (records 15 plates only); Brunet II, 1772-3 (15 plates only); Lipperheide Si 10; Cicognara 1388.