Publius Ovidius Naso (43BCE - 17CE) [author]; Antoine Vérard (active 1485-1512) [printer]
OVIDIUS NASO, Publius (43 BCE - 17 CE), Metamorphoses, in French: eleven woodcuts from La Bible des poètes. Methamorphoze, adapted by Colard Mansion. Paris: Antoine Vérard, 1 March 1493/94
Four splendid full-page and seven smaller illuminated woodcuts from a copy of Ovid's Metamorphoses in the French prose adaptation known as La Bible des poètes, printed on vellum by Antoine Vérard.

Vérard's production lies on the cusp between illuminated manuscripts and the modern printed edition. He combined the two techniques by printing works illustrated with woodcuts, of which he then produced versions on vellum with hand-made illuminations for aristocratic patrons such as Charles VIII of France and Henry VII of England. The edition from which the present leaves come is reprinted from that of Mansion, Bruges, 1484, and the woodcuts were based on those of the Bruges edition. Only twelve copies of the 1494 edition are recorded in institutions.

Four large and seven smaller woodcuts printed on vellum and illuminated by a contemporary artist. Antoine Vérard regularly produced de luxe copies, printed on vellum and finely illuminated, for patrons such as Charles VIII of France, Henry VII of England, Anne de Bretagne, Jean d'Albret, and Louise de Savoie. Only 4 vellum copies of the present edition are known (British Museum, Grenoble, Bib. nationale de France [2 copies]), all fully illuminated. The Master of Jacques de Besançon illuminated some smaller miniatures in the London copy (prepared for presentation to Henry VII) and both Paris copies; the Grenoble copy was painted by another artist working at a high level. HC 12165; Macfarlane 31; CIBN O-123; Bod-inc O-075; BMC VIII 82; Winn, Vérard 269-281.

The subjects and measurements of the illustrations are: 1) The Castration of Saturn by Jupiter (full page, frontispiece, 242 x 179mm.);
2) Mars, as the dejected warrior being carried in a cart (sig. A5, verso, 92 x 83mm.);
3) Apollo with bow and arrows, standing on a three-headed beast and with the Three Graces standing round a tree (sig. A6, verso, 92 x 83mm.);
4) Minerva (Sig. B3, verso, 90 x 80mm.); 5)
Pluto, in Hades, a king in the mouth of Hell surrounded by sinners (sig. B7, verso, 92 x 81mm.); 6)
Vulcan at his forge (Sig. C3, recot, 91 x 80mm.);
7) Hercules (Sig. C3, recto, 89 x 83mm.);
8) Asculapius with his wand (Sig. C3, verso, 83 x 82mm.);
9) Cadmus slaying two dragons (full page, Frontispiece to Book III, Sig. C8, verso, 243 x 178mm.);
10) Pluto and Proserpine (full page, Frontispiece to Book V, Sig. G2, verso, 244 x 174mm.);
11) The Death of Orpheus (full page, Frontispiece to Boox XI, Sig. P7, recto, 239 x 180mm.).

Provenance:
•DANIEL BURCKARDT-WILDT (1752-1819): sale by his heirs, Sotheby’s, 25 April 1983, lot 180.

Please note this lot is the property of a private consignor.

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