MINIATURIST, Italian
(active 1460s in Padua)

Pliny the Elder: Naturalis historia

1469
Incunable (Inc. 670, 2 volumes)
Biblioteca Classense, Ravenna

The Natural History (Latin: Naturalis historia) is an early encyclopedia published circa A.D. 77–79 by Pliny the Elder. It is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day and purports to cover all ancient knowledge. It was very popular among the humanists in the 15th century, and circulated not only in manuscript form but also in printed editions.

This incunable (incunable or incunabulum: a book that was printed — not handwritten — before the year 1501 in Europe) was printed in Venice in 1469 by Johann of Speyer, a printer from the German Palatinate. The decoration, which is of exceptionally high quality, is attributed to Giovanni Vendramin, one of the most important Paduan illuminators, who was active between 1466 and 1509.

The copy in Ravenna is decorated with initials of the type known as "littera mantiniana" named after Mantegna, which was invented in Padua in the 1450s. In this type of initial the letters are painted to appear three-dimensional.

On folio 197 of volume II, there is an initial "M" inserted in a classical niche and decorated with foliate motifs and a nude female figure. In the lower margin are painted two centaurs supporting a shield for a coat of arms which has been completely erased.




© Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Krén and Daniel Marx.