jamesgray2

523G      Vincenzo Cartari               1531–1569

Imagini Delli Dei De Gl’Antichi Di Vincenzo Cartari Reggiano :
Ridotte da capo à piedi alle loro reali, & non più per l’adietro osseruate simiglianze. Cauate da’ Marmi, Bronzi, Medaglie, Gioie, & altre memorie antiche; con esquisito studio, & particolare diligenza Da Lorenzo Pignoria Padoano ; Aggionteui le Annotationi del medesimo … ; Con le Allegorie sopra le Imagini di Cesare Malfatti Padoano, migliorate, & accresciute nouamente

Venice: Tomasini, 1647,                                                                                 $Sold

Quarto   9 ¼ x 6 ½ inches.         a8 b4 A-2A8 2B6,   a8 b4 [chi]1 2[chi]1 A-Z8 Aa8 Bb6 .   This copy is bound in 18th century German quarter calf with paste paper boards ,expertly rebacked!   This is a very large margined copy with amyn decker edges           This is the fourth and Most Complete edition.   This is a very nicely illustrated book on the images of God throughout the world. Cartari’s work was profusely illustrated with 243 captioned images of the pagan gods, and is composed in the Italian vernacular and Illustrated with woodcuts by Bolognino Zalteri. This systematic integration of text and image constituted an original approach to the classical myths, and the use of the vernacular made the text accessible to learned and unlearned alike. Cartari’s iconographical, symbolic interpretation of the images of the pagan gods as they were represented in antiquity and discussed by Renaissance antiquarians proved to be an enormously popular approach to pagan myth. Cartari focussed on the gods’ iconography and explained their clothing, expressions, poses and attributes. Cartari’s Images was well known to Renaissance artists, poets, and critics. The antiquarian and philologist Lorenzo Pignoria added extra text and notes to the work in 1615 along with Seconda Parte delle Imagini de gli Dei Indiani, a second volume containing a short series of images of Mexican and Japanese deities.

Graesse, II, 56. Ebert 3586. Sabin, 11104. Vgl. Cicognara, 4684

There is a wonderful english translation available at  https://acmrs.org/publications/catalog/vincenzo-cartari’s-images-gods-ancients-first-italian-mythography

see also : Archiv für Religionsgeschichte. Volume 3, Issue 1, Pages 183–209, ISSN (Online) 1868-8888, ISSN (Print) 1436-3038, DOI: 10.1515/9783110234190.183, May 2010