Concering Famous Women
author
Giacomo Filippo Foresti
(Solto, 1434 - 1520, Bergamo)
printer
Lorenzo Di Rossi
(active Ferrara, 1482 - 1521)
binder
R. De Coverly
(London, born 1831)
editor
Albertus de Placentia
(active Italy, late 15th century)
editor
Augustinus de Casali Maiori
(active late 15th century)
Date29 April 1497
Place MadeItaly, Europe
MediumPrinted ink on paper
Dimensions32.2 x 22.9 x 2.9 cm (12 11/16 x 9 x 1 1/8 in.)
ClassificationsBooks
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession number2.b.1.4
eMuseum ID728086
Other NumberISTC ij00204000
Other NumberARC.007524
EmbARK ObjectID17135
Other NumberGoff J204
TMS Source ID5436
Last Updated8/9/24
Description1 Vol. (176 leaves) : ill. ; 32 cm. (folio)Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryAugustian monk and author, Giacomo Filippo Foresti's illustrated encyclopedia of famous women is arranged chronologically, beginning with Eve. The list includes Biblical women, women from pagan times, Christian women, and notorious women like the legendary medieval female Pope Joan. The last seven women: Bona of Lombardy, Bianca Maria of Milan, Catherine of Imola, Leonora of Ferrara, Bianca Mirandula, Genevra Sforza, and Damisella Trivulzia, are Foresti's contemporaries, and are illustrated with woodcuts that are so full of individual character that they are thought to be based on actual portraits and are therefore among the first woodcut portraits. The other 165 woodcut images are mere types of the women represented in the histories, and not portraits. The classical women and the saints each share a series of woodblocks which are printed repeatedly to fill out the series. Two saints or two goddesses might share a single appropriate woodcut. This sort of typological representation is extremely common in early books.
BibliographyNotesBernard Quaritch. Catalogue of the Monuments of the Early Printers... (December 1886 - August 1887), lot 37074.
W.A. Copinger. Supplement to Hain's Repertorium Bibliographicum, Part I (London 1895), no. 2813.
Isabella Stewart Gardner. A Choice of Books from the Library of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Fenway Court (Boston, 1906), p. 9. (as by Fr. Jacobi Philippi Bergomensis; as bound by Roger de Coverly)
Isabella Stewart Gardner. A Choice of Manuscripts and Bookbindings from the Library of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Fenway Court (Boston, 1922), p. 58. (as bound by Roger De Coverly)
Frederick Richmond Goff. Incunabula in American libraries; a third census of fifteenth-century books recorded in North American collections (New York, 1964), no. J204.
Rebecca Karo. Short-Title Catalogue of Highlights from the Book Collection in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Unpublished manuscript. (Boston, 1970s), no. 7. (as by Jacopo Filippo Foresti da Bergamo)
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke, no. 07223, accessed 30 August 2016. http://www.gesamtkatalogderwiegendrucke.de/docs/M10959.htm
British Library. Incunabula Short Title Catalogue, no. ij00204000, accessed 30 August 2016. http://istc.bl.uk/search/search.html?operation=record&rsid=545078&q=0#
Consuelo W. Dutschke in Jeffrey F. Hamburger et al. Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; Newton: McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College; Cambridge: Houghton Library, Harvard University, 2016), pp. 241, 301-302, no. 239, ill.
W.A. Copinger. Supplement to Hain's Repertorium Bibliographicum, Part I (London 1895), no. 2813.
Isabella Stewart Gardner. A Choice of Books from the Library of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Fenway Court (Boston, 1906), p. 9. (as by Fr. Jacobi Philippi Bergomensis; as bound by Roger de Coverly)
Isabella Stewart Gardner. A Choice of Manuscripts and Bookbindings from the Library of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Fenway Court (Boston, 1922), p. 58. (as bound by Roger De Coverly)
Frederick Richmond Goff. Incunabula in American libraries; a third census of fifteenth-century books recorded in North American collections (New York, 1964), no. J204.
Rebecca Karo. Short-Title Catalogue of Highlights from the Book Collection in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Unpublished manuscript. (Boston, 1970s), no. 7. (as by Jacopo Filippo Foresti da Bergamo)
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke, no. 07223, accessed 30 August 2016. http://www.gesamtkatalogderwiegendrucke.de/docs/M10959.htm
British Library. Incunabula Short Title Catalogue, no. ij00204000, accessed 30 August 2016. http://istc.bl.uk/search/search.html?operation=record&rsid=545078&q=0#
Consuelo W. Dutschke in Jeffrey F. Hamburger et al. Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; Newton: McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College; Cambridge: Houghton Library, Harvard University, 2016), pp. 241, 301-302, no. 239, ill.
MarksNotesInscribed in pencil (front pastedown): "370"
Stamped (front pastedown): "R. De. Coverly"
Affixed (A1r): bookplate of Isabella Stewart Gardner
Stamped (A1r and z6r): "KUPFERSTICH SAMMLUNG DER KÖNIGL. MUSEEN."
Stamped (A1r and z6r): "H. [or K] Kupferstichkabinet in Berlin veräussert 18.10.1881"
Inscribed (a4v): "Rerum quoru[m]dam particularium a claris mulieribus [?]muedam hic et specialis [?] fabula primo v3. Adiunc et compladine inter primu[m] muedu[m]." [in Latin in a late 15th/16th-century hand]
Inscribed in ink (s3r): underline
Inscribed in pencil (end pastedown): "Ea/w/s"
Inscribed in pencil (end pastedown): illegible [probably bookseller's price-code]
Enclosed: paper, inscribed in pencil "1497"
Enclosed: blue paper, inscribed in pencil: "Bergomensis, Jacobus P"
Enclosed: two photocopies of typed bibliographic descriptions
Stamped (front pastedown): "R. De. Coverly"
Affixed (A1r): bookplate of Isabella Stewart Gardner
Stamped (A1r and z6r): "KUPFERSTICH SAMMLUNG DER KÖNIGL. MUSEEN."
Stamped (A1r and z6r): "H. [or K] Kupferstichkabinet in Berlin veräussert 18.10.1881"
Inscribed (a4v): "Rerum quoru[m]dam particularium a claris mulieribus [?]muedam hic et specialis [?] fabula primo v3. Adiunc et compladine inter primu[m] muedu[m]." [in Latin in a late 15th/16th-century hand]
Inscribed in ink (s3r): underline
Inscribed in pencil (end pastedown): "Ea/w/s"
Inscribed in pencil (end pastedown): illegible [probably bookseller's price-code]
Enclosed: paper, inscribed in pencil "1497"
Enclosed: blue paper, inscribed in pencil: "Bergomensis, Jacobus P"
Enclosed: two photocopies of typed bibliographic descriptions
ProvenanceNotesCollection of the Kupferstichkabinett [Museum of Prints and Drawings], Berlin until 18 October 1881.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from the bookseller and publisher Bernard Quaritch (1819-1899), London for £31.10 on 10 March 1887, lot 37074.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from the bookseller and publisher Bernard Quaritch (1819-1899), London for £31.10 on 10 March 1887, lot 37074.
