Sabellico, Marco Antonio. [Decades rerum Venetarum; π1v:] M. Antonii Sabellici in tris & triginta suos rerum Venetiarum Libros Epitoma [f. a3r:] Marci Antonii Sabellici rerum Venetarum ab urbe condita ad Marcum Barbadicum Serenissimum Venetiarum principem et Senatum. Venice: Andrea Torresano, 21 May 1487
First edition of a summary history of Venice from its legendary origins until 1486, dashed off by Sabellico (Coccio; ca. 1436–1506) in little more than fifteen months, while sequestered in Verona during a plague epidemic. The third book of the fourth Decade recounts the death of the dedicatee, doge Marco Barbarigo (14 August 1486), and the succession of his brother, Agostino (30 August 1486). On 1 September 1486, Sabellico obtained a copyright, the first literary privilege granted by the Venetian Republic, as recompense for writing a book of such public utility. The Senate later rewarded him with a lectureship at the school of San Marco.
The Republic’s adoption of the work as a semi-official history may account for its warm reception by the Venetian patriciate. Lilian Armstrong noted seventeen copies of this book with hand illumination and a coat of arms of the recipient, usually placed in the lower margin of the first leaf of text. In this copy the arms are those of the Gabrieli (Gabriele) family (D’oro, con una fascia a tre ordini de scacchi d’oro, e d’azzurro). This decoration perhaps was commissioned by the patrician Giovanni Gabrieli, who on 7 July 1491 allowed the visiting Angelo Poliziano to copy extracts from his manuscript of Ars grammatica.
The illuminator was one of the most prominent miniaturists working in Venice, known to us as the “Master of the Pico Pliny,” a name derived from a manuscript of Pliny that he illuminated in 1481 for Pico della Mirandola. Five copies of Sabellico’s history illuminated by the Pico Master are known, the others belonging to the Barbarigo, Cornaro, Morosini, and an unidentified family:
(a) on paper (416 mm); red goatskin binding by Charles Lewis (19C) — Cornaro, family library, painted arms (a3r) — William Beckford (1760-1844); by descent to: William Alexander Archibald, 11th Duke of Hamilton (1811-1863); Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of the third portion of the Beckford Library, removed from Hamilton Palace, London, 2-13 July 1883, lot 1582 — Robson & Kerslake - bought in sale (£10 15s) — Samuel Sandars (1837-1894), his bequest to: — Cambridge University Library, SSS.2.3Armstrong, op. cit., 2003, no. 74 & Figs.35-36.
(b) on vellum — Barbarigo family library, painted arms (a3r), presumed presentation copy to doge Agostino Barbarigo — Alberto Falck (1938-2003) — Venice, Biblioteca Giustinian Recanati Falck.Armstrong, op. cit., 2003, no. 75 & Fig.34; Helena Szépe, Venice illuminated: Power and painting in Renaissance manuscripts (New Haven 2018), p.72 Fig. 2.12
(c) on paper; Italian half-vellum binding (18C) — Gabrielli family library, painted arms (a3r) — the volume here offered for sale.Armstrong, op. cit., 2003, no. 76.
(d) on paper (405 x 283mm); calf binding with paper labels (17C) — unidentified owner, painted arms (initials “AL” and “G” flanking an unidentified coat of arms (over original Italian arms – Sotheby’s); escutcheon divided per pale, dexter an eagle displayed black on a golden field, sinister barry of six red and green, crest, and motto “Forcht Got” on a banderol, a3r) — Sotheby’s, Continental manuscripts and printed books, science and medicine, London, 21 November 1989, lot 76 — Martin Breslauer, Inc, New York - bought in sale (£22,000) — private collection, New York (Armstong, op. cit., 2003, p.332) — Heribert Tenschert, Ramsen; their, Fünfzig Unica: 50 Unique Books: Livres uniques: 1472-1949 (Ramsen 1998), item 6.Armstrong, op. cit., 2003, pp.332-333 no. 114.
(e) — Marcantonio Morosini (1434-1509) — unlocatedArmstrong, op. cit., 2003, p.333 no. 115
In each copy the artist adopts the same formula: the fourteen-line capital Q at the beginning of the text features a figure of a warrior in classical armor on horseback. In two copies (a, b), the warrior turns back to the right, while the horse gallops to the left, whereas in two others (c, d), he proceeds without hesitation, followed by a band of armor-clad soldiers. The illumination in the latter copies appears to illustrate the immediately adjacent text, where Sabellico recounts the flight of Antenor and a company of Eneti from Paphlagonia to the Venetian Gulf.
Royal folio (387 x 260 mm). Roman type R5:111, 48 lines plus headline, shoulder-notes, 5-line initial spaces with guide letters. collation: π6 a8 b–h6 i–k8 l–y6 A–H6 I–M8 N10 O4: 238 (of 240?) leaves (lacking the two leaves of errata, supposed to have been printed later and found either at the beginning or end of the volume, and lacking in the vellum copies and many paper copies). First text page (a3r) illuminated by the Venetian Pico Master: initial Q heightened with gold, and historiated with a contemporary watercolor drawing, decoration extending into the upper and inner margin; in the lower margin the arms of the Gabrielli family of Venice, enclosed by a watercolor design. (A very little scattered marginal foxing and soiling.)
binding: Eighteenth-century Italian half vellum over cream-colored pasteboards (395 x 277 mm), plain endpapers and edges. (Slight rubbing and soiling.)
provenance: Gabrielli, family library (Venice) — Conte Giovanni Danese Buri (1774–1827, book ticket) — Marchese Fumanelli (Sotheby’s, London, 24 November 1969, lot 28 (lots 12–34 offered as “The Property of The Marchese Fumanelli”), purchased by — Martin Breslauer, London (£700; Catalogue 101, [1970], item 363, $3300) — John Goelet (1931–2023) — Sotheby’s, London, 16 May 1977, lot 36 , purchased by — Alan G. Thomas, London (£2000). acquisition: Purchased from Alan G. Thomas, 1985.
references: ISTC is00005000; Goff S-5; GW M39264; BMC V 308 (IC 21644); USTC 991475; Renouard 286, 2; on the illumination of this edition, see Armstrong, “The Decoration and Illustration of Venetian Incunabula from Hand Illumination to the Design of Woodcuts,” in Studi di storia 13 (2020), pp. 775–818 (p. 794) [e-ISSN 2610-9433]. Cf. L. Armstrong, “The Master of the Rimini Ovid: A Miniaturist and Woodcut Designer in Renaissance Venice,” in Print Quarterly 10 (1993) pp. 327–363 (p. 338, noting copies illuminated by that Master for members of the Marin, Di Thiene, and an unidentified family); for this copy, L. Armstrong, "Il Maestro di Pico: un miniatore veneziano del tardo Quattrocento", Saggi e memorie di storia dell'arte 17 (1990), pp. 7-39, 215-253 (p.35, no. 76: "ubicazione ignota"); L. Armstrong, Studies of Renaissance miniaturists in Venice (London 2003), pp.233-308 (pp.265, 326 no. 76).
Sabellico, Marco Antonio. [Decades rerum Venetarum; π1v:] M. Antonii Sabellici in tris & triginta suos rerum Venetiarum Libros Epitoma [f. a3r:] Marci Antonii Sabellici rerum Venetarum ab urbe condita ad Marcum Barbadicum Serenissimum Venetiarum principem et Senatum. Venice: Andrea Torresano, 21 May 1487
First edition of a summary history of Venice from its legendary origins until 1486, dashed off by Sabellico (Coccio; ca. 1436–1506) in little more than fifteen months, while sequestered in Verona during a plague epidemic. The third book of the fourth Decade recounts the death of the dedicatee, doge Marco Barbarigo (14 August 1486), and the succession of his brother, Agostino (30 August 1486). On 1 September 1486, Sabellico obtained a copyright, the first literary privilege granted by the Venetian Republic, as recompense for writing a book of such public utility. The Senate later rewarded him with a lectureship at the school of San Marco.
The Republic’s adoption of the work as a semi-official history may account for its warm reception by the Venetian patriciate. Lilian Armstrong noted seventeen copies of this book with hand illumination and a coat of arms of the recipient, usually placed in the lower margin of the first leaf of text. In this copy the arms are those of the Gabrieli (Gabriele) family (D’oro, con una fascia a tre ordini de scacchi d’oro, e d’azzurro). This decoration perhaps was commissioned by the patrician Giovanni Gabrieli, who on 7 July 1491 allowed the visiting Angelo Poliziano to copy extracts from his manuscript of Ars grammatica.
The illuminator was one of the most prominent miniaturists working in Venice, known to us as the “Master of the Pico Pliny,” a name derived from a manuscript of Pliny that he illuminated in 1481 for Pico della Mirandola. Five copies of Sabellico’s history illuminated by the Pico Master are known, the others belonging to the Barbarigo, Cornaro, Morosini, and an unidentified family:
(a) on paper (416 mm); red goatskin binding by Charles Lewis (19C) — Cornaro, family library, painted arms (a3r) — William Beckford (1760-1844); by descent to: William Alexander Archibald, 11th Duke of Hamilton (1811-1863); Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of the third portion of the Beckford Library, removed from Hamilton Palace, London, 2-13 July 1883, lot 1582 — Robson & Kerslake - bought in sale (£10 15s) — Samuel Sandars (1837-1894), his bequest to: — Cambridge University Library, SSS.2.3Armstrong, op. cit., 2003, no. 74 & Figs.35-36.
(b) on vellum — Barbarigo family library, painted arms (a3r), presumed presentation copy to doge Agostino Barbarigo — Alberto Falck (1938-2003) — Venice, Biblioteca Giustinian Recanati Falck.Armstrong, op. cit., 2003, no. 75 & Fig.34; Helena Szépe, Venice illuminated: Power and painting in Renaissance manuscripts (New Haven 2018), p.72 Fig. 2.12
(c) on paper; Italian half-vellum binding (18C) — Gabrielli family library, painted arms (a3r) — the volume here offered for sale.Armstrong, op. cit., 2003, no. 76.
(d) on paper (405 x 283mm); calf binding with paper labels (17C) — unidentified owner, painted arms (initials “AL” and “G” flanking an unidentified coat of arms (over original Italian arms – Sotheby’s); escutcheon divided per pale, dexter an eagle displayed black on a golden field, sinister barry of six red and green, crest, and motto “Forcht Got” on a banderol, a3r) — Sotheby’s, Continental manuscripts and printed books, science and medicine, London, 21 November 1989, lot 76 — Martin Breslauer, Inc, New York - bought in sale (£22,000) — private collection, New York (Armstong, op. cit., 2003, p.332) — Heribert Tenschert, Ramsen; their, Fünfzig Unica: 50 Unique Books: Livres uniques: 1472-1949 (Ramsen 1998), item 6.Armstrong, op. cit., 2003, pp.332-333 no. 114.
(e) — Marcantonio Morosini (1434-1509) — unlocatedArmstrong, op. cit., 2003, p.333 no. 115
In each copy the artist adopts the same formula: the fourteen-line capital Q at the beginning of the text features a figure of a warrior in classical armor on horseback. In two copies (a, b), the warrior turns back to the right, while the horse gallops to the left, whereas in two others (c, d), he proceeds without hesitation, followed by a band of armor-clad soldiers. The illumination in the latter copies appears to illustrate the immediately adjacent text, where Sabellico recounts the flight of Antenor and a company of Eneti from Paphlagonia to the Venetian Gulf.
Royal folio (387 x 260 mm). Roman type R5:111, 48 lines plus headline, shoulder-notes, 5-line initial spaces with guide letters. collation: π6 a8 b–h6 i–k8 l–y6 A–H6 I–M8 N10 O4: 238 (of 240?) leaves (lacking the two leaves of errata, supposed to have been printed later and found either at the beginning or end of the volume, and lacking in the vellum copies and many paper copies). First text page (a3r) illuminated by the Venetian Pico Master: initial Q heightened with gold, and historiated with a contemporary watercolor drawing, decoration extending into the upper and inner margin; in the lower margin the arms of the Gabrielli family of Venice, enclosed by a watercolor design. (A very little scattered marginal foxing and soiling.)
binding: Eighteenth-century Italian half vellum over cream-colored pasteboards (395 x 277 mm), plain endpapers and edges. (Slight rubbing and soiling.)
provenance: Gabrielli, family library (Venice) — Conte Giovanni Danese Buri (1774–1827, book ticket) — Marchese Fumanelli (Sotheby’s, London, 24 November 1969, lot 28 (lots 12–34 offered as “The Property of The Marchese Fumanelli”), purchased by — Martin Breslauer, London (£700; Catalogue 101, [1970], item 363, $3300) — John Goelet (1931–2023) — Sotheby’s, London, 16 May 1977, lot 36 , purchased by — Alan G. Thomas, London (£2000). acquisition: Purchased from Alan G. Thomas, 1985.
references: ISTC is00005000; Goff S-5; GW M39264; BMC V 308 (IC 21644); USTC 991475; Renouard 286, 2; on the illumination of this edition, see Armstrong, “The Decoration and Illustration of Venetian Incunabula from Hand Illumination to the Design of Woodcuts,” in Studi di storia 13 (2020), pp. 775–818 (p. 794) [e-ISSN 2610-9433]. Cf. L. Armstrong, “The Master of the Rimini Ovid: A Miniaturist and Woodcut Designer in Renaissance Venice,” in Print Quarterly 10 (1993) pp. 327–363 (p. 338, noting copies illuminated by that Master for members of the Marin, Di Thiene, and an unidentified family); for this copy, L. Armstrong, "Il Maestro di Pico: un miniatore veneziano del tardo Quattrocento", Saggi e memorie di storia dell'arte 17 (1990), pp. 7-39, 215-253 (p.35, no. 76: "ubicazione ignota"); L. Armstrong, Studies of Renaissance miniaturists in Venice (London 2003), pp.233-308 (pp.265, 326 no. 76).
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