Le Imagini De I Dei De Gli Antichi Nelle Quali Si Contengono gl'Idoli, Riti, ceremonie, & altre cose appartenenti alla Religione de gli Antichi, Raccolte dal Sig. Vincenzo Cartari, con la loro espositione, & con bellissime & accommodate figure nuovamente stampate. Et con molta diligenza riviste e ricorrette. Con Privilegio.
[T.p., dedic.] - A Lettori Fabio Maretto Gentil'huomo Senese - Tavola Delle Cose Notabili, Che Nell'Opera Si Contengono - [Text with pl.].
Responsibility Note
The illustrations are unsigned; but the name of the illustrator, Zaltieri, is mentioned in the dedication.
The dedication (dated 1569) is from Vincenzo Cartari to 'Cardinale Da Este'.
References
Adams, Cambridge, I., C788; Harvard College Library Department Of Printing And Graphic Arts Catalogue Of Books And Manuscripts Part II: Italian 16th Century, comp. R. Mortimer (1974), no. 108 (on the 1571 edn.).
R.L. McGrath, 'The "old" and "new" illustrations for Cartari's Imagini dei dei degli antichi', in Gazette des beaux-arts, 59 (1962), p. 213-226.
J.D. Reid,, The Oxford guide to classical mythology in the arts, 1300-1990s, 2 v. (1993); A.D. Momigliano, 'Historiography of religion', in Encyclopaedia of religion, vol. 6 (1987), p. 383-90; J. Seznec, 'La survivance des dieux antiques', in Stud. Warb. Inst, 11 (London, 1940; Paris, 2/1980), p. 206-78; J. Seznac (tr. B.F. Sessions), The survival of the pagan gods (1953), p. 219-323.
Summary Note
Cartari's Imagini, first printed in 1556, had been published in an expanded version in 1571 jointly by V. Valgrisi and F. Ziletti, with woodcuts by Bolognino Zaltieri. The present printing includes Zaltieri's illustrations.
The work was intended, as the Address to the readers states, to give artists 'material for a thousand beautiful inventions with which to adorn their statues and paintings'. Its influence has been traced in Veronese's frescoes at Villa Barbaro, Maser (1560), and those of Zuccaro in the Camera dell'Aurora at the Villa Farnese, Caprarola (1562) - where antique figures personify ideas rather than illustrate a narrative.
Ziletti's 1580 printing is one of many editions and translations that appeared through the 16th and 17th centuries.
Reproductions
A facisimile of Ziletti's 1571 edition, edited by M. Bussagli, was published in 1987 (Genoa).
Provenance
Purchased by 1780. Recorded in RAA Library, Catalogue, 1802.
Copy Note
This copy has a drawing in ink pasted in on page [560].
Binding Note
18th-century calf, with royal arms of Britain and 'R.A.' gilt-stamped on upper cover; rebacked and recornered in 1990, retaining red morocco spine-label, lettered, 'Imagini De I Dei Di Cartari'.
Subject
Mythology, Greek - Mythology, Roman - Gods, Greek - Gods, Roman - Iconography - Religion - Greece - Rome - History
Pictorial works - Italy - 16th century
Armorial bindings - Great Britain - 18th century