Celebration on the Arno for the wedding of Cosimo de' Medici

L’ARGONAVTICA, rappresentata in ARNO per le nozze dell Ser.mo COSIMO de Med. Princ. Di Toscana, colla Ser.ma MARIA MADALENA d’Austria in FIORENZA, alli 3 di Novembre. 1608.

Etching and engraving, 1608, signed on the lower plate.

The print has an inscription on the right that names Giorgio Cristoforo Baroni as the probable patron of the Greuter: Illustri ac Generoso Baroni a Losenstein, Losensteinleute, Dno i Wieting, Rosseck, Weideholtz, Schallaburg et Sichteberg. D. S. Clenment. Mmathaeus Greuter. In the lower margin we find the imprint FLORENTIAE Superiorum licentia Matthaeus Greuter excu and again in the centre within a frame Vigeant MEDICI and Greuterus, Roma, veniens, Florentiae mostrat Ordine, praeteritos, Prelia, Festa dies. Hacce tabella tibi praesentat Nautca Cosmi. Auctori grates, candide Lactor age. Benedictus Coccius. B.

Greuter's work originated as an iconographic apparatus attached to L'Argonautica del S. Francesco Cini rappresentata in Arno per le nozze del sereniss. d. Cosimo de Medici. Principe di Toscana. E della serenissima arciduchessa Maria Maddalena d'Austria. In Firenze l'anno. 1608.

This is one of the numerous and now rare books of celebrations, published for the wedding of Cosimo II, eldest son of Ferdinand with Maria Magdalena of Austria, for which figurative documentation abounds, thanks above all to Ludovico Cigoli and Matthäus Greuter who, together with Remigio Cantagallina, translated Giulio Parigi's splendid set designs into print.

The event, celebrated in 1608, was much studied and detailed, in particular for the scenographic arrangements of the games, the public tournaments, for the choreographies of the ballets and in general for the theatrical performances in the Medici palaces that followed one after the other from 18 October, the date on which the new Grand Duchess made her triumphal entry into Florence, until 5 November, with the Giostra del Saracino contested in Piazza Santa Croce. Less fruitful, despite efforts, has been archive research so far on the derivative engravings, of which we cannot yet state with certainty whether they were directly commissioned by the court. The work of the German artist Matthaüs Greuter are in any case the two etchings illustrating, respectively, the grandiose and didactic Entrance to Florence of Maria Magdalena of Austria, which bears the dedication to Matteo Botti, Marquis of Campiglia, and the Grand Duke's 'Major Cathedral' followed by the similar Wedding Banquet, both attached to the Descrizione delle feste attributed to Camillo Rinuccini and published in Florence in 1608. In addition to these, the publication also included individual descriptions with the texts of the plays and ballets performed during those festivities, namely L'Argonautica by Francesco Cini, Ballo e Giostra dei Venti nelle nozze del serenissimo principe e della serenissima principessa di Toscana arciduchessa, by Lorenzo Franceschini, I cavalieri Sanesi e valorosi e cortesi professori d'arme, and finally the text of the theatrical performance La Notte d'Amore, again by Francesco Cini, which took place on the evening of 22 October in Palazzo Pitti. The publication was completed by other chalcographic engravings, in addition to the two already mentioned, including, by Greuter, La Giostra dei Venti, Il Nobil Anticho Giuoco del combattimento del Ponte solito farsi in Pisa and L'Argonautica; both mention the event of the wedding but are not dedicated to the Medici' (cf. Baroni, I Medici e l'incisione: Le origini della collezione di stampe degli Uffizi, 2008, pp. 39-41).

Beautiful proof, printed on contemporary laid paper, trimmed in copperplate, usual paper folds - due to the provenance of Cini's book - in good condition. Example applied on 'Japan' paper.

Bibliografia

Alessandra Baroni, I Medici e l’incisione: Le origini della collezione di stampe degli Uffizi, 2008, pp. 39-41, fig. 39.