COLOURED DRAWINGS of Plants, Copied from Nature in the Roman States, by Gerardo Cibo

British Library: Western Manuscripts

COLOURED DRAWINGS of plants, copied from nature in the Roman States, by Gerardo Cibo. Two volumes, the latter of which contains also a few shells and fishes, and sketches in Indian ink. Vol. I. includ... (c 1564-1584) (Add MS 22332-22333) Table of Contents

Key Details...... 1

Provenance...... 1

Key Details

Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts

Reference Add MS 22332-22333

Creation Date c 1564-1584

Extent and Format 2 items

Access Conditions Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff

Title COLOURED DRAWINGS of plants, copied from nature in the Roman States, by Gerardo Cibo. Two volumes, the latter of which contains also a few shells and fishes, and sketches in Indian ink. Vol. I. includes descriptions of the plants, almost entirely derived from the Italian translation of Dioscorides made by Pietro Andrea Mattioli of Siena; and at the beginning of Vol. II. is a holograph letter in Italian from Mattioli to Cibo; dat. Prague, 19 Nov. 1565. Vol. II. f. 58 contains four suggestions for the subject of the vision of St. Augustine, copied by Cibo from designs by his child, "figliuolo" Antonio. Paper; circa 1564-1584; these dates being affixed to some of the drawings. Quarto and Folio. (c 1564-1584)

Provenance

Legal Status Not Public Record(s)

Add MS 22332 Pietro Andrea Mattioli, Discorsi, a herbal assembled and illustrated by Gherardo Cibo (c 1564-1584)

Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts

Reference Add MS 22332

Creation Date c 1564-1584

Extent and Format Paper codex

Languages of Material Italian

Access Conditions Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff

Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Title Pietro Andrea Mattioli, Discorsi, a herbal assembled and illustrated by Gherardo Cibo (c 1564-1584)

Physical Characteristics Materials: Paper. Dimensions: 265 x 195 (text space: approximately 235 x 175). Foliation: ff. 185 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 3 at the end); + 3 unfoliated paper leaves following f. 89; + 1 unfoliated paper leaf following f. 130, f. 152, f. 155, f. 169, f. 173. f. 185 is a paper paste-down inside the lower binding. f. 107* is a blank leaf following f. 107. Script: Italian cursive. Binding: Post-1600. 17th-century gold-tooled and –stamped black leather binding, the spine inscribed in gold by the British Museum: ‘P. A. MATTHIOLO. ERBARIO. TOM. I.’

Scope and Content Contents:

ff. 2r-2v: Index of plant names for the Discorsi;

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ff. 3r-184v: Pietro Andrea Mattioli, the Discorsi, assembled and illustrated by Gherardo Cibo.

This manuscript contains the Discorsi, an Italian herbal that provides a commentary on De Materia Medica by the Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides (d. 90 BC) by Pietro Andrea Mattioli (b. 1501, d. 1577), a naturalist and physician to Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria, and of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor. Mattioli used the works of Arabic scholars and discoveries made in the Orient and America, to add a large number of plants (not all for their medical uses) to those of the Materia Medica.

This manuscript of the original Italian text was assembled and illustrated by Gherardo Cibo (b. 1512, d. 1600), a botanist in Arcevia and nephew of Caterina Cibo, Duchess of Camerino. He illustrated the plants he collected and in many illustrations the botanist is depicted at work, discovering, collecting and studying nature.

A companion manuscript, now Add MS 22333 contains further illustrations by Cibo and includes a copy of a letter from Mattioli in which he praises Cibo for his work.

Decoration:

131 full-page framed watercolour images of plants on a background of landscapes or pastoral scenes with people, animals and birds on recto folios (ff. 1-57, 59, 61-65, 67, 69-75, 77-83, 85-87, 89-101, 103-115, 118-124, 127-141, 143, 144, 146-148, 150, 152, 154, 155) and 5 on verso folios (ff. 176-179v, 181v). 25 water-colour botanical drawings with no background (ff. 58, 60, 66, 68, 76r, 84, 88, 102, 116, 117, 125, 126, 142, 145, 149, 151, 153, 163, 164, 166, 173v, 175v, 180v, 182v, 183v).

The plants have been identified as:

f. 12r: Cyclamen purpurascens;

f. 13r: Asplenium scolopendrium;

f. 16r: Asplenium trichomanes (maidenhair fern);

f. 35r: Galanthus and Ipheion (?);

f. 37r: Daphnoides;

f. 46r: Abronia arenaria and Solidago virga-aurea;

f. 47r: Eryngium;

f. 50r: Plantago maior;

f. 56r: Mercurialis annua;

f. 72r: Gladiolus Italicus;

f. 85r: Paeonia mascula;

f. 92r: Asarum europaeum;

f. 95r: Helleboris viridis;

f. 96r: Polygonatum;

f. 104r: Viola odorata;

f. 111r: Galium cruciatum;

f. 121r: Fumaria;

f. 130r: Origanum;

f. 131r: Poligonum aviculare;

f. 133r: Scrophularia nodosa;

f. 143: Phyllitis hemionitis;

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f. 148r: Iris;

f. 150r: Callystegia soldanella;

f. 154r: Euphorbia characias or Thithymalus characias I (primus Dodonaei);

f. 160r: Crocus sativus;

f. 181v: Olea europaea.

Legal Status Not Public Record(s)

Custodial History Origin: Italy, Central.

Provenance:

Painted by Gherardo Cibo (b. 1512, d. 1600): a sketch of the vision of St Augustine with an inscription stating that it was copied from designs by Cibo's son (‘figliuolo’), Antonio (in the companion manuscript, Add MS 22333, f. 58r). Some of the drawings are dated 1564-1584 and there is a date of 1597 on f. 185 (rear past-down).

Inscriptions relating to the contents on the pastedowns inside the upper and lower bindings have been torn and are illegible.

Marchese Giovanni Battista Costabili Containi and his grand nephew Marchese Giovanni Costabili Containi: their sale, 27 June 1850, lot 2127 (note on f. 1); bought by the British Museum.

Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum, 1854-1860 (London: Clowes, 1875), pp. 634-35.

E. Celani, 'Sopra un erbario di Gherardo Cibo conservato nella R. Biblioteca Angelica di Roma', Malpighia, 16 (1902) 181-226.

Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi, 'Gherardo Cibo: visions of landscape and the botanical sciences in a sixteenth-century artist', Journal of Garden History, 9.4 (1989), 199-216 (p. 201).

Arnold Nesselrath, Gherardo Cibo, alias Ulisse Severino da Cingoli: disegni e opere da collezioni italiane (Florence: S.P.E.S, 1989), pp. 211-22 [exhibition catalogue].

J. Bolten, 'Review: Gherardo Cibo, alias Ulisse Severino da Cingoli', Master Drawings, 28.2 (1990), fig. 2.

Paula Findlen, Possessing Nature: Museums, Collecting, and Scientific Culture in Early Modern Italy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), pp 166-70, fig. 11.

Erma Hermans, 'A 17th century Italian treatise on Miniature Painting and its Authors', in Historical Painting Techniques, Materials and Studio Practice, Papers from the Leiden Symposium, ed. by A. Wallert , E. Hermans and M. Peek, Leiden, 1995), pp. 48-57 (p. 53).

Pamela H. Smith, The Body of the Artisan: Art and Experience in the Scientific Revolution (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2003), pp. 42, 44, 45, figs 1.13-1.15.

Gherardo Cibo: Dilettante di Botanica e Pittore di 'Paesi', ed. by Giorgio Mangani e Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi (Ancona: Il lavoro editoriale, 2013), pls 1, 6-8, 12, 25, 134- 68, p. 244.

Cristina Bellorini, World of Plants in Renaissance Tuscany: Medicine and Botany (Abingdon: Routledge, 2016), figs 3.2, 3.3, 3.11.

Page 3 2019-04-13 Add MS 22333 Gherardo Cibo, Paintings of flora of the Roman States (c 1564-1584)

Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts

Reference Add MS 22333

Creation Date c 1564-1584

Extent and Format Paper codex

Languages of Material Italian

Access Conditions Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff

Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Title Gherardo Cibo, Paintings of flora of the Roman States (c 1564-1584)

Physical Characteristics Material: Paper. Dimensions: 340 x 225mm (text space: 315 x 210) Foliation: ff. 1-66 (+ 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and 5 at the end, the first and last being pasted to marbled end-leaves + 15 unfoliated blank leaves, 1 following ff. 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 12, 2 following f. 14, 1 following ff. 25, 30, 31, 33, 42, 52 and 57. ff. 3 and the following unfoliated leaf are in blue paper). Script: Italian cursive. Binding: Post-1600. 17th-century gold-tooled and stamped black leather binding.

Scope and Content Contents:

f. 1r: A letter to Gherardo Cibo from Pietro Andrea Mattioli (b. 1501, d. 1577) of Sienna, physician physician to Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria, and to Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, praising his work;

f. 3r-v: Index of plants;

ff. 3r-63: Gherardo Cibo (b. 1512, d. 1600), Paintings of flora of the Roman States. Cibo, a botanist in Arcevia and nephew of Caterina Cibo, Duchess of Camerino, unlike most botanists, who relied on artists, illustrated the plants he collected. He was the first to develop the image of the botanist: in many illustrations the botanist is depicted at work, discovering, collecting and studying nature, emphasising the importance of studying specimens in their local environments. Cibo's is the oldest surviving herbarium (a collection of pressed and dried plants); he began collecting as early as 1532.

f. 58r: Antonio Cibo, son of Gherardo, designs for the vision of St. Augustine.

A companion manuscript, now Add MS 22332 contains Mattioli's Discorsi with further botanical illustrations by Gherardo Cibo.

Decoration:

63 full page framed botanical images in watercolour and gouache (on all rectos, ff. 4r-54r). Paintings and drawings of landscapes (ff. 59r, 64r, 65r), sea life (f. 66r), fruit (f. 60r) and flowers (f. 61r). A sketch for the vision of St Augustine (f. 58r).

Page 4 2019-04-13 Legal Status Not Public Record(s)

Custodial History Origin: Italy, Central.

Provenance:

Painted by Gherardo Cibo (b. 1512, d. 1600): a sketch of the vision of St Augustine with an inscription stating that it was copied from designs by Cibo's son (‘figliuolo’), Antonio (f. 58r). In Add MS 22332 some of the drawings are dated 1564-1584 and there is a date of 1597 on f. 185 (rear past-down).

Marchese Giovanni Battista Costabili Containi and his grand nephew Marchese Giovanni Costabili Containi: their sale, 27 June 1850, lot 2127 (note on f. 1); bought by the British Museum.

Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum, 1854-1860 (London: Clowes, 1875), pp. 634-35.

E. Celani, 'Sopra un erbario di Gherardo Cibo conservato nella R. Biblioteca Angelica di Roma', Malpighia, 16 (1902) 181-226.

Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi, 'Gherardo Cibo: visions of landscape and the botanical sciences in a sixteenth-century artist', Journal of Garden History, 9.4 (1989), 199-216 (p. 201).

Arnold Nesselrath, Gherardo Cibo, alias Ulisse Severino da Cingoli: disegni e opere da collezioni italiane (Florence: S.P.E.S, 1989), pp. 211-22 [exhibition catalogue].

J. Bolten, 'Review: Gherardo Cibo, alias Ulisse Severino da Cingoli', Master Drawings, 28.2 (1990), fig. 2.

Paula Findlen, Possessing Nature: Museums, Collecting, and Scientific Culture in Early Modern Italy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), pp. 166-70, fig. 11.

Pamela H. Smith, The Body of the Artisan: Art and Experience in the Scientific Revolution (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2003), pp. 42, 44, 45, figs 1.13-1.15.

Gherardo Cibo: Dilettante di Botanica e Pittore di 'Paesi', ed. by Giorgio Mangani e Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi (Ancona: Il lavoro editoriale, 2013), pls 1, 6-8, 12, 25, 134- 68, p. 244.

Cristina Bellorini, World of Plants in Renaissance Tuscany: Medicine and Botany (Abingdon: Routledge, 2016), figs 3.2, 3.3, 3.11.

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