TERZIO, Francesco (of Bergamo). Ab AVIDUS or OSELLO, Gaspar. - Lot 77

TERZIO, Francesco (of Bergamo). Ab AVIDUS or OSELLO, Gaspar. "Imagines Gentis Austriacae. Francisci Tertii Bergomatis Sereniss. Ferdinandi archiducis Austriae, ducis Burgundiae comitis Tirolis etc. pictoris aulici ad invictiss caesarem Maximilianum II Romanorum imp.semper augustum Austriacae gentis imaginum Pars Prima. Dioecesis OEnipontana (Innsbruck) ou Venetiae, (1569-1573). Nineteenth-century fawn half-basin, spine ribbed with gilt fleurons, gilt title Bergomas Imagines. Magnificent and rare sumptuary suite engraved on copper, a masterpiece of Renaissance printmaking. This is a copy of the second edition - enlarged by several figures - of this series of full-length portraits of the sovereigns affiliated with the Habsburgs of Austria, depicted in their court attire. The first issue dates from 1558 (Brunet). This suite was commissioned by Ferdinand II of Tyrol, Archduke of Austria (1529-1595), from Francesco Terzio, the author and draughtsman and official court painter. It was part of an imperial "propaganda" policy to disseminate official Habsburg iconography. The principle was to allegorize the Habsburgs and to associate faces and symbols with power. Contains 52 large black etchings, folding and mounted on tabs, printed on thick laid paper, out of the 57 generally advertised. In folio format (38.4 x 51.5 cm), engraved numbering. Plates no. 5, 10, 13, 15 and 17 are missing, but copies are rarely exhaustive (the number of plates often varies in older collections). After the title engraved with the great arms of Ferdinand II, the suite is introduced by an impressive scene that could be compared to a Salvator Mundi, with Christ on a globe crushing an allegory of the Underworld (with Charon the ferryman, the skeleton of Death, Voluptuousness, a satyr...). A series of portraits of important Habsburg men and women, some of them sovereigns of other European courts, in court dress or armor, set in an ornate architectural pediment. These plates are at the same time a suite of little-known Emblemata, esoteric sketches inscribed in the pediment crowning each portrait. The magnificence and precision of the clothes and armor place this album among the suites of court costumes and defensive or ceremonial body equipment of the Renaissance, which bibliographers such as Colas fail to reference. While Innsbruck is the most historically accurate place of publication, it is possible that another part of the print run was produced later in Italy. After the court of Ferdinand II, Terzio returned to Italy around 1570; the interval 1569-1573 is often cited; moreover, our engraved title seems to present a different state: a slight modification of the typography at the title and the engraved addition of a mention of Venice at the bottom of the figure. The title corresponds to the 1569 edition. Remarkably engraved by Gaspare (da) Padova (also known as Gaspar ab Avidus or Osello), about whose mastery of his art little is known other than that he was a native of Cittadella, in the Padua region. No known copies in French libraries. Only a few copies in WorldCat, mainly in Germany. Brunet, V, 728. Cicognara, 2114. Provenances: Library of Francesco Rizzo Patarol (1770-1833), Count and Secretary of the Ducal Chancellery of Padua, from a Venetian family, from Palazzo Rizzo Patarol, with his ex libris engraved with the arms at the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th century "Francesco Rizzo Patarol" - Stamp in black ink QUIRINIANAE with fleurdelisé coat of arms, from the Bibliotheca Querinia in Brescia, founded in the 18th century. Some old handwritten annotations in ink on endpapers. Some scattered spotting and staining, slight staining to the folds of a few plates, 2 light central dampstains to a few, plate 17 with discreet tear to one margin. Binding slightly rubbed. ENGRAVED SUITE. COSTUMES. HABSBURG. EUROPEAN COURTS. RENAISSANCE. EMBLEMATA.