Folio leaf from De Piscibus by Ulisse Aldrovandi. Bologna, N. Thebaldini, 1638. Page 577-578. Hand colour applied to the woodcut of the Mustella fluviatilis, & lacustris Gesneri — Gesner's river and lake burbot — depicted with a dramatically coiled serpentine body in warm golden-brown, leopard-spotted with pale cream markings and teal-green accents throughout. The feathered pectoral fins are rendered in layered brown and teal, and the eyes are a striking vivid turquoise. The tail curls back on itself to form a disc — an arresting compositional choice that fills the folio with unusual dynamism. The verso (p.578) carries dense text under the headings Natura. Mores. Coitus. Partus. and Vsus in Cibis, et Medicina — describing the creature's voracious habits, its alleged mating with frogs, and its culinary and medicinal uses.
Engraved by Cristoforo Coriolano (Lederer, b. Nuremberg c.1540), whose woodcuts Aldrovandi himself praised as so refined they resembled copperplate engravings. Aldrovandi (1522–1605), described by contemporaries as the Pontifex Maximus of natural history, produced in De Piscibus one of the most exhaustive and visually remarkable fish encyclopedias of the Renaissance.
References: Nissen ZBI 70; Nissen, Fischb. 7; Westwood/Satchell 3; Huber 56.
Condition: Good. Minor staining to outer margin. Hand colour fresh and unfaded.
Folio dimensions: 35 × 24 cm (13.8 × 9.4 inches).
Folio leaf from De Piscibus by Ulisse Aldrovandi. Bologna, N. Thebaldini, 1638. Page 577-578. Hand colour applied to the woodcut of the Mustella fluviatilis, & lacustris Gesneri — Gesner's river and lake burbot — depicted with a dramatically coiled serpentine body in warm golden-brown, leopard-spotted with pale cream markings and teal-green accents throughout. The feathered pectoral fins are rendered in layered brown and teal, and the eyes are a striking vivid turquoise. The tail curls back on itself to form a disc — an arresting compositional choice that fills the folio with unusual dynamism. The verso (p.578) carries dense text under the headings Natura. Mores. Coitus. Partus. and Vsus in Cibis, et Medicina — describing the creature's voracious habits, its alleged mating with frogs, and its culinary and medicinal uses.
Engraved by Cristoforo Coriolano (Lederer, b. Nuremberg c.1540), whose woodcuts Aldrovandi himself praised as so refined they resembled copperplate engravings. Aldrovandi (1522–1605), described by contemporaries as the Pontifex Maximus of natural history, produced in De Piscibus one of the most exhaustive and visually remarkable fish encyclopedias of the Renaissance.
References: Nissen ZBI 70; Nissen, Fischb. 7; Westwood/Satchell 3; Huber 56.
Condition: Good. Minor staining to outer margin. Hand colour fresh and unfaded.
Folio dimensions: 35 × 24 cm (13.8 × 9.4 inches).
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