49. Roman armorial binding, mid-16th century. Commission from Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este appointing Niccolò Franzese

Marcus Tullius Cicero, Rhetoricorum ad C. Herennium libri IIII

Venice: Heirs of Aldus Manutius, 1546 8vo

Size of binding: 165 x 109 x 33 mm

Provenance: Ippolito II d'Este; Carlo Rovelli (cf inscription on recto of 2nd front flyleaf)



Red morocco over pasteboards with blind and gilt decoration. Blind-tooled outer frame and an inner frame of fillet work and double knot work on either side of the cover. Solid-faced arabesques at each corner, and placed inside the border and in the central panel along with a fleur-de-lis. In the centre, a quartered shield with the arms of Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este. Evidence of two hasp straps. New spine with three double bands decorated with a stylized floral strip. Pink and green headbands. Edges gilt and engraved with knot work.

This binding can be attributed to Reims-born, Vatican-based, 16th-century binder, Niccolò Franzese. Appointed binder in 1556, he worked in the Vatican City until 1570-71, when he died. This binding belongs to the artist's French spell, c.1547-1555, when the Master introduced the typical knot work running all along the border. Of all bindings commissioned by Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este (1509-1572), only few are known, including just two by Niccolò Franzese, as follows: i) one on a text by Pietro Bembo, Epistolarum Leonis decimi pontificis max. nomine scriptarum libri sexdecim, Venice, Giovanni Padovano & Venturino Ruffinelli, 1535, from the Jean Fürstenberg¹ collection, on sale in 1984². In 1995, the antiquarian bookseller, B. Breslauer confirmed that the book was part of an American private collection; ii) the other, executed on a text by Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistolae ad Atticum, ad M. Brutum, ad Quintum fratrem, Venice, Heirs of Aldus Manutius, 1549, was recorded in 1975 as belonging, itself, to a private collection³. The present binding appears to be the only Franzese book cover for Ippolito II d'Este to be housed in a public institution. Other two bindings belonging to the Cardinal, yet without the typical fleurons, are duplicated by E. Ph. Goldschmidt⁴ and Sotheby's⁵. The Brera Library owns five more bindings executed by Niccolò Franzese⁶. The present book was listed in the catalogue of the 1929 book exhibition⁷ and in that of the Brera Aldine editions⁸.



¹ T. DE MARINIS, Die italienischen Renaissance-Einbände..., quoted, pp. 52-53.

² BRESLAUER MARTIN INC., Catalogue 104, Part II, pp. 248-249, No 158.

³ A.R.A. HOBSON, Apollo..., quoted, p. 86, No 92.

⁴ E. Ph. GOLDSCHMIDT, Gothic and Renaissance…, quoted, vol. I, Text, 2. Catalogue Raisonné, p. 300, No 228; vol. II, No 228, plate XC.

⁵ SOTHEBY AND CO., London, Sotheby's Catalogue of Valuable Printed Books..., p. 227, No 584, plate 64.

⁶ Three of them are listed in the present catalogue under Nos 33, 43 and 44, the other two cover a text by Pope Gregorius I, Pastoralis divi Gregorii, Paris, Charlotte Guillarde, 1542, F.XIII.53.

⁷ BIBLIOTECA NAZIONALE BRAIDENSE, Catalogo..., quoted, p. 44, No 136.

⁸ ID., Le edizioni aldine…, quoted, p. 166.