![PLUTARCH, Life of Camillus, in the Latin translation of OGNIBENE DA LONIGO for GIANFRANCESCO GONZAGA (c.1395-1444), ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [northern Italy, probably Mantua, c.1470s].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2015/CKS/2015_CKS_10455_0030_001(plutarch_life_of_camillus_in_the_latin_translation_of_ognibene_da_loni095822).jpg?w=1)
![PLUTARCH, Life of Camillus, in the Latin translation of OGNIBENE DA LONIGO for GIANFRANCESCO GONZAGA (c.1395-1444), ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [northern Italy, probably Mantua, c.1470s].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2015/CKS/2015_CKS_10455_0030_002(plutarch_life_of_camillus_in_the_latin_translation_of_ognibene_da_loni095900).jpg?w=1)
![PLUTARCH, Life of Camillus, in the Latin translation of OGNIBENE DA LONIGO for GIANFRANCESCO GONZAGA (c.1395-1444), ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [northern Italy, probably Mantua, c.1470s].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2015/CKS/2015_CKS_10455_0030_003(plutarch_life_of_camillus_in_the_latin_translation_of_ognibene_da_loni071114).jpg?w=1)
![PLUTARCH, Life of Camillus, in the Latin translation of OGNIBENE DA LONIGO for GIANFRANCESCO GONZAGA (c.1395-1444), ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [northern Italy, probably Mantua, c.1470s].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2015/CKS/2015_CKS_10455_0030_000(plutarch_life_of_camillus_in_the_latin_translation_of_ognibene_da_loni055601).jpg?w=1)
Details
PLUTARCH, Life of Camillus, in the Latin translation of OGNIBENE DA LONIGO for GIANFRANCESCO GONZAGA (c.1395-1444), ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [northern Italy, probably Mantua, c.1470s].
171 x 118mm. 72 leaves, COMPLETE, foliation in modern pencil followed here, catchwords survive, 18 lines written in a fine humanistic hand, written space: 99 x 50mm. TWO LARGE ILLUMINATED INITIALS ON GOLD GROUNDS (occasional marginal staining). Modern morocco tooled binding gilt (scuffed and rubbed). Blue box.
PROVENANCE:
(1) The text is dedicated to Gianfrancesco Gonzaga (c.1395-1444), Marquess of Mantua and is a translation of Plutarch’s Life of Camillus by Ognibene da Lonigo, made when he was a student of the great Italian humanist Vittorino da Feltre (1378-1446) between 1423 and 1433 in Mantua. The style of the illuminated initials, though, with their blocky interlace, is later, likely dating to the 1470s. (2) ARNOLD I. METTLER (1867-1945), included in the sale of his important collection, Collections Arnold Mettler St Gall, Manuscrits à Miniatures des IXe-XVe siècles, at MM Mensing et fils (Frederick Muller & Cie), Amsterdam, 5 April 1935, no 24. (3) Sotheby’s, 15 December 1936, The Mensing Library: a very valuable and important library, lot 469: snippet of catalogue description tipped in, sold to Maggs. (4) LORD KENNET OF THE DENE.
CONTENT:
Prologue, beginning: ‘Vite Camilli per Omnebonum Leonicensem ex Plutarco in Latinum converse [...]’ ff.3-6v; Life of Camillus ff.7-71.
AN UNRECORDED COPY OF A HUMANIST TRANSLATION OF PLUTARCH’S 'LIVES' BY ONE OF THE GREAT ITALIAN RENAISSANCE SCHOLARS AND EDUCATORS.
Camillus, the great saviour and second founder of Rome after the Gallic invasion of 387-6 BCE, would have been an inspirational example to any Renaissance Italian ruler, and this translation into Latin follows the vogue for encomiastic literature produced to extol the virtues of the nobility through comparison with great heroes of the past. But it is also an example of a young student’s attempt at translating a great of classical literature: here we see a young Ognibene da Lonigo (Omnibonus Leonicenus) under the tutelage of the famed Renaissance educator Vittorino da Feltre, whom he would eventually succeed, demonstrating his skill with a text he dedicated to Gianfrancesco Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua. The complete text of Ognibene’s Camillus survives in only 9 other manuscripts, all in public insitutions: Bodleian, MS. Canon. Class. Lat. 172; San Daniele del Friuli, Biblioteca Guarneriana 115, 85; Torino, Biblioteca Nazionale DIII I; BAV Chigi JV 192; Pal. Lat. 918 (326); Vat. Lat. 1875; Venezia, Museo Civico Correr, Cicogna 171 (3510); University of Notre Dame Library, 43 and Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS X. 41 sup. See M. Pade, The Reception of Plutarch's "Lives" in fifteenth-century Italy, 2005, pp.229-230.
171 x 118mm. 72 leaves, COMPLETE, foliation in modern pencil followed here, catchwords survive, 18 lines written in a fine humanistic hand, written space: 99 x 50mm. TWO LARGE ILLUMINATED INITIALS ON GOLD GROUNDS (occasional marginal staining). Modern morocco tooled binding gilt (scuffed and rubbed). Blue box.
PROVENANCE:
(1) The text is dedicated to Gianfrancesco Gonzaga (c.1395-1444), Marquess of Mantua and is a translation of Plutarch’s Life of Camillus by Ognibene da Lonigo, made when he was a student of the great Italian humanist Vittorino da Feltre (1378-1446) between 1423 and 1433 in Mantua. The style of the illuminated initials, though, with their blocky interlace, is later, likely dating to the 1470s. (2) ARNOLD I. METTLER (1867-1945), included in the sale of his important collection, Collections Arnold Mettler St Gall, Manuscrits à Miniatures des IXe-XVe siècles, at MM Mensing et fils (Frederick Muller & Cie), Amsterdam, 5 April 1935, no 24. (3) Sotheby’s, 15 December 1936, The Mensing Library: a very valuable and important library, lot 469: snippet of catalogue description tipped in, sold to Maggs. (4) LORD KENNET OF THE DENE.
CONTENT:
Prologue, beginning: ‘Vite Camilli per Omnebonum Leonicensem ex Plutarco in Latinum converse [...]’ ff.3-6v; Life of Camillus ff.7-71.
AN UNRECORDED COPY OF A HUMANIST TRANSLATION OF PLUTARCH’S 'LIVES' BY ONE OF THE GREAT ITALIAN RENAISSANCE SCHOLARS AND EDUCATORS.
Camillus, the great saviour and second founder of Rome after the Gallic invasion of 387-6 BCE, would have been an inspirational example to any Renaissance Italian ruler, and this translation into Latin follows the vogue for encomiastic literature produced to extol the virtues of the nobility through comparison with great heroes of the past. But it is also an example of a young student’s attempt at translating a great of classical literature: here we see a young Ognibene da Lonigo (Omnibonus Leonicenus) under the tutelage of the famed Renaissance educator Vittorino da Feltre, whom he would eventually succeed, demonstrating his skill with a text he dedicated to Gianfrancesco Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua. The complete text of Ognibene’s Camillus survives in only 9 other manuscripts, all in public insitutions: Bodleian, MS. Canon. Class. Lat. 172; San Daniele del Friuli, Biblioteca Guarneriana 115, 85; Torino, Biblioteca Nazionale DIII I; BAV Chigi JV 192; Pal. Lat. 918 (326); Vat. Lat. 1875; Venezia, Museo Civico Correr, Cicogna 171 (3510); University of Notre Dame Library, 43 and Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS X. 41 sup. See M. Pade, The Reception of Plutarch's "Lives" in fifteenth-century Italy, 2005, pp.229-230.
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