1562 Plantains [Plantago] - Matthioli Botanical - Folio 2 woodcuts - Hand colour

Giorgio Liberale (1527–c.79) ; W. Meyerpeck

Near folio woodcuts, verso in fine hand color. Woodcuts to recto and verso.

Leaf: 33.5 x 22.5 cm

FOLIO

Fine later hand colour

Issued in:

Commentarii in sex libros Pedacii, 1565 by Pietro Andrea Mattioli (Siena 1501 - Trento 1568)

Bibliographical references: Nissen, BBI 1314; Pritzel 5992; Anderson, Herbals 163.

Many of these woodcuts were so delicately cut, that the blocks soon became worn. The 'first impressions' (of the 1560s) of such woodcuts were undoubtedly the best" (Savage 127).

Pietro Andrea Mattioli's (1500–77) Herbal (1565) was one of the most significant editions of Mattioli's commentary on Dioscorides (circa A.D. 40–90). It is also one of scarcest herbals, with exquisite large woodcuts is exceptional detail. 

Giorgio Liberale was an Italian artist from Udine who had been working for the imperial court in Prague. In this role he produced some 600 large blocks that were used in the Venice  edition of Matthioli’s Herbal. The work resulted in some of the finest woodcuts of any herbal produced in any century.

Condition: Excellent overall condition. Singe age spot.