La Divina Commedia Di Dante Alighieri Con Varie Annotazioni E Copiosi Rami Adornata. Dedicata Alla Sagra Imperial Maestà Di Elisabetta Petrowna Imperatrice Di Tutte Le Russie ec.ec.ec. Dal Conte Don Cristoforo Zapata De Cisneros. Tomo Primo. (-Terzo).
Vol.1: [Half-t.] - Avviso A' Legatori Per la la disposizione de' Rami - [Frontis., t.p., port., dedic., port.] - Prefazione - Vita Di Dante Scritta Da Lionardo Bruni Aretino [with one pl.] - Vita Di Dante Scritta Da Giovan Mario Crescimbeni - [Plate, with text, 'Questo nobil Sepolcro ...'] - Principio D'Un Capitolo; Notizia; Testimonianze; Giudicio - [Approbation] - [Divisional title, 'L'Inferno ...'] - [Text of the Inferno, with notes and plates]. - Vol. II: [T.p., divisional t.p.] - [Text of Purgatorio, with notes and plates]. - Vol. III: [T.p., divisional t.p.] - [Text of Paradiso, with notes and plates] - Illustrazione Alla Commedia Di Dante Non Più Stampate - Catalogo De' Signori Associati Accresciuti in questo Terzo Tomo.
Responsibility Note
The numbered plates (one for each canto) are all (except Paradiso cantos 8, 9, 31, 32) signed by draughtsmen and engravers. Draughtsmen were F. Fontebasso, G. Magnini, G. Zompini, M.A. Schiavonio, G.F. Marcaggi, G. Ticiani, B. Crivellari, G. Scaggiari and G. Guarana. Engravers were F. Sampicoli, G. Magnini, G. Giampicoli, F. Rizzi, G. Leonardis, F. Fontebasso, B. Crivellari and Z. Zuliani. Of the six unnumbered plates in volume I the frontispiece is signed as drawn by F. Fontebasso and engraved by F. Sampicoli; the portrait of Empress Elisabeth (and the engraved dedication) are signed as drawn and engraved by G. Magnini; the three plates shawing the portrait, medals and tomb of Dante are unsigned; the map of Hell is by Antonio Manetti Fiorentino but the engraver's name is not given.
Headpieces and tailpieces are unsigned - except the tailpiece of Inferno canto 3 ('J. Zompini inv.') and the tailpieces to volumes I and II ('Gioa. Magnini F.').
The notes and critical essays are by P. Venturi, G.A. Volpi, F.R. Morando, G. Berti, A. Guarini and V. Gravina.
The publication is dedicated by Count Cristoforo Zapata de Cisneros to the Empress Elisabeth of Russia; who in the same year founded the Russian Academy of Arts.
References
E.P. Nassar, Illustrations to Dante's Inferno (1999); Dantes Göttliche Komödie In Sieben Jahrhunderten geschrieben, gedruckt, illustriert [exhibition catalogue] (1988); Il libro illustrato nel settecento a Venezia, ed. T. Gasparrini Leporace (1955); M. Lanckoronska, Die venezianische Buchgraphik des XVIII. Jahrhunderts (1950); G. Morazzoni, Il libro illustrato veneziano del settecento (1943).
Summary Note
In this edition the Divina Commedia is accompanied by notes, essays, a Life of Dante and critical testimonies; and is bound uniformly with a fourth volume containing the Vita Nuova and other works.
Each canto is accompanied by one illustrative plate, a headpiece and sometimes a tailpiece. The six unnumbered plates of Volume I consist of a frontispiece, a portrait of Empress Elisabeth of Russia, a portrait of Dante, medals relating to Dante, the tomb of Dante, a schematic map of Hell.
The work will have been acquired by the Royal Academy primarily as a source of themes for artists. Having been an inspiration to such artists as Signorelli, Botticelli and Michelangelo, Dante's standing had fallen a little among some Enlightenment critics - Voltaire even describing his poem as a 'compilation stupidement barbare' - but at the end of the eighteenth century the sublimity of the Comedy's themes was attracting John Flaxman; and in the 1820s William Blake began his watercolour illustrations of the work. Later illustrators include D. G. Rosetti, Delacroix, Doré and Rodin.
Provenance
Purchased (with the companion volume of Prose, e rime, 1758) from Francesco Sastres for £3 3s. on 19 April 1788 (see his invoice of that date 'for books sent to Mr. Wilton for the Royal Academy').
Binding Note
Late 18th-century tree calf; bound for the Royal Academy (with the companion volume of Prose, e rime, 1758) by John Miller in 1788 (see his bill for £1 dated 13 July 1788); rebacked in 1988, retaining earlier red and green morocco spine-labels lettered, 'Dante I (-III)'.
Future life - Heaven - Hell - Purgatory - Christian art and symbolism
Italian poetry - 14th century
Pictorial works - Illustrated books - Italy - 18th century