97
LEONARDI, Giovanni Giacomo (1498-1522). Delle battaglie de nostri tempi. [1540-1552].
An extraordinary unpublished manuscript by Gian Giacomo Leonardi, diplomat, intellectual and commander in the service of the Della Rovere family, probably a part of the work "Principe Cavaliero" on which he worked in his mature years and for which he obtained a printing privilege yet remained unpublished. The work is dedicated to Duke Guidobaldo II, son of Francesco Maria presented as the prince-leader capable of reclaiming Italian freedom 'Voi solo il quale con li studii con la essercitatione delle vostre ordinanze e di quelle dei signori Venetiani e de lor soldati ite pensando a liberare l'Italia'.
In the dedication, Leonardi presents the approach he followed in the drafting of his work: starting from the classics texts of history and military tactics, without reducing himself to a mere and ordinary commentary, he intends to propose a precise comparison with the war experience he experienced himself: 'tutti leggiamo Vegetio, Elliano et simili, niuno è che investigando quello che essi scrissero a tempi loro curi trovar il meglio portarlo a nostra intelligenza di maniera [che] posiamo imitargli (sic)". In the proem he also proposes a comparison between the structure and management of the army with that of the human body; "'Con il detto di questo (*Michelangelo) huomo vado ancora io considerando che il principe cavalliero ha da mettere insieme un corpo di un esercito come formare un uomo venisse immaginando il pittore'.
This is followed by a vademecum with 39 short rules in which we can see the modernity of the author's military theories. He considers numerical superiority, order and organisation fundamental to victory, the pike and the arquebus the weapons 'necessary for battle', and relegates the cavalry to a subordinate role, noting its criticality; He also polemises those in Italy who had a 'chivalrous' view of battle: 'Quelli scrittori moderni che hanno desiderato il scudo de romani antichi non si sono racordati delli archibugi'.
This is followed by 100 pages with 91 short 'theses' on practical problems of military organisation, such as troop selection and management, armaments, deployments, attack and defence tactics, and comparisons between modern and ancient armies. Bound into the text are 9 figures, two of which are double-page, which serve to illustrate the troop dispositions according to the various figures proposed by Leonardi and executed by an artist probably close to the Urbino court.
The work is dated between 1540, the year in which Gian Giacomo Leonardi was created Count of Castellabate, and 1552, the year in which Guidobaldo II's appointment as Captain General of the Serenessima was not renewed. At the end, the author signs his name 'Giova Jacomo Leonardi da Pesaro, Count of Monte l'Abbate' and in the dedication he addresses Guidobaldo della Rovere still in his capacity as commander of the Venetian army. This places the manuscript in close relation to already known works, the Trattato di armi e artiglieria, written in 1540, the Cavaliero ambasciatore (mss 216) of 1542 and the Libro delle fortificazioni dei nostri tempi of 1553 (mss 220); other works referable to the corpus of the Principe cavaliere are the Libro sopra l'alloggiar d'un esercito (mss 221) and the Principe cavaliere in duello (mss 219, 223) all conserved in the Oliveriana library in Pesaro.
An important and unpublished testimony of the war experience in late Renaissance Italy and its politics.
LEONARDI, Giovan Giacomo (1498-1522), from Pesaro, studied law in Bologna and Ferrara, where he graduated in 1522. He began his military career in the service of Francesco II Sforza, taking care of the fortification of Pavia during the French siege of 1525, before moving in 1528 to the service of Francesco Maria I Della Rovere, Duke of Urbino and Captain General of the land forces of the Republic of Venice. Among his functions was that of orator at the 'Colleggio dei Savi', who briefed on military happenings and to whom he applied for funding for the army. Given the close ties between Venice and Urbino, Leonardi also indirectly played the role of artistic and literary mediator between the two cities, maintaining regular contacts with Tommaso Diplovatazio, Sebastiano Serlio and Pietro Bembo. According to Aretino, he was also a close friend of Titian, from whom he commissioned the Head of Hannibal, Christ and the Adoration of the Shepherds for the court of Urbino in 1532 and oversaw the purchase of the Venus of Urbino in 1538. In 1532, he presented the programme for the fortification of Vicenza to the Serenissima and at the same time began writing his own military treatises under the title 'The Knight Prince'. When Francesco Maria I died in 1538, Leonardi continued to be the representative of the Captain General, a title that passed to Francesco's son, Guidobaldo II, who appointed him Count of Monte l'Abbate in 1540. Dating back to these years are the manuscripts the Treaty of Arms and Artillery (1540) and the Ambassador Cavalier (1542) dedicated to his new lord (both conserved in the Biblioteca Oliveriana) for which he again obtained the command of the Venetian militia in 1542 and 1546. In 1552, he was unable to get Guidobaldo to renew his position in Venice and therefore followed him to Rome where he had been elected Captain General of the Church. He spent the last years of his life away from battlefields and politics, retiring to his fiefdom of Montelabbate where he completed the reordering of the Knight Prince, for which he obtained a printing privilege from Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy (5 September 1561) that was never used. He died in 1562 and was buried in the church of S. Francesco in Pesaro. After his death, the family, known as the Leonardi Della Rovere Counts of Montelabbate, continued to reside in the castle of their fiefdom and in Pesaro at Palazzo Leonardi (Via Mazzolari 52) until, after the marriage of Gian Giacomo Leonardi Montelabate della Rovere (1710-1795) on 3 March 1737 to Countess Maria Amalia Rottal, they moved to Moravia and began to disperse their estate.
Folio, (320 x 220 mm). Manuscript on paper, 63 leaves (of which 53 are numbered) and 9 off-text illustrations including 2 double-page illustrations and an accompanying manuscript bifolium, watermark with anchor and star. Composition : 1 blank card, 1 card with handwritten title on cardboard applied, 1 blank card, 3 dedication cards to Guidobaldo II, 1 Prohemio card, 1 card with a list of 39 short rules for conducting battles, 51 cards containing 91 theses, 4 final blank cards and 9 drawings of formations of soldiers of which 2 are double-page illustrations outside the text, the first accompanied by an unnumbered explanatory bifolio inserted between cards 15 and 16; Uncut (Water stains to upper and lower margin, no loss of text, small loss of paper to margins). Inserted within 16th-century binding richly gilt decorated in rollers with figure of archbishop saint in centre, probably of Roman manufacture (some wear). Please contact the department for a detailed description of the contents.. (1
In the dedication, Leonardi presents the approach he followed in the drafting of his work: starting from the classics texts of history and military tactics, without reducing himself to a mere and ordinary commentary, he intends to propose a precise comparison with the war experience he experienced himself: 'tutti leggiamo Vegetio, Elliano et simili, niuno è che investigando quello che essi scrissero a tempi loro curi trovar il meglio portarlo a nostra intelligenza di maniera [che] posiamo imitargli (sic)". In the proem he also proposes a comparison between the structure and management of the army with that of the human body; "'Con il detto di questo (*Michelangelo) huomo vado ancora io considerando che il principe cavalliero ha da mettere insieme un corpo di un esercito come formare un uomo venisse immaginando il pittore'.
This is followed by a vademecum with 39 short rules in which we can see the modernity of the author's military theories. He considers numerical superiority, order and organisation fundamental to victory, the pike and the arquebus the weapons 'necessary for battle', and relegates the cavalry to a subordinate role, noting its criticality; He also polemises those in Italy who had a 'chivalrous' view of battle: 'Quelli scrittori moderni che hanno desiderato il scudo de romani antichi non si sono racordati delli archibugi'.
This is followed by 100 pages with 91 short 'theses' on practical problems of military organisation, such as troop selection and management, armaments, deployments, attack and defence tactics, and comparisons between modern and ancient armies. Bound into the text are 9 figures, two of which are double-page, which serve to illustrate the troop dispositions according to the various figures proposed by Leonardi and executed by an artist probably close to the Urbino court.
The work is dated between 1540, the year in which Gian Giacomo Leonardi was created Count of Castellabate, and 1552, the year in which Guidobaldo II's appointment as Captain General of the Serenessima was not renewed. At the end, the author signs his name 'Giova Jacomo Leonardi da Pesaro, Count of Monte l'Abbate' and in the dedication he addresses Guidobaldo della Rovere still in his capacity as commander of the Venetian army. This places the manuscript in close relation to already known works, the Trattato di armi e artiglieria, written in 1540, the Cavaliero ambasciatore (mss 216) of 1542 and the Libro delle fortificazioni dei nostri tempi of 1553 (mss 220); other works referable to the corpus of the Principe cavaliere are the Libro sopra l'alloggiar d'un esercito (mss 221) and the Principe cavaliere in duello (mss 219, 223) all conserved in the Oliveriana library in Pesaro.
An important and unpublished testimony of the war experience in late Renaissance Italy and its politics.
LEONARDI, Giovan Giacomo (1498-1522), from Pesaro, studied law in Bologna and Ferrara, where he graduated in 1522. He began his military career in the service of Francesco II Sforza, taking care of the fortification of Pavia during the French siege of 1525, before moving in 1528 to the service of Francesco Maria I Della Rovere, Duke of Urbino and Captain General of the land forces of the Republic of Venice. Among his functions was that of orator at the 'Colleggio dei Savi', who briefed on military happenings and to whom he applied for funding for the army. Given the close ties between Venice and Urbino, Leonardi also indirectly played the role of artistic and literary mediator between the two cities, maintaining regular contacts with Tommaso Diplovatazio, Sebastiano Serlio and Pietro Bembo. According to Aretino, he was also a close friend of Titian, from whom he commissioned the Head of Hannibal, Christ and the Adoration of the Shepherds for the court of Urbino in 1532 and oversaw the purchase of the Venus of Urbino in 1538. In 1532, he presented the programme for the fortification of Vicenza to the Serenissima and at the same time began writing his own military treatises under the title 'The Knight Prince'. When Francesco Maria I died in 1538, Leonardi continued to be the representative of the Captain General, a title that passed to Francesco's son, Guidobaldo II, who appointed him Count of Monte l'Abbate in 1540. Dating back to these years are the manuscripts the Treaty of Arms and Artillery (1540) and the Ambassador Cavalier (1542) dedicated to his new lord (both conserved in the Biblioteca Oliveriana) for which he again obtained the command of the Venetian militia in 1542 and 1546. In 1552, he was unable to get Guidobaldo to renew his position in Venice and therefore followed him to Rome where he had been elected Captain General of the Church. He spent the last years of his life away from battlefields and politics, retiring to his fiefdom of Montelabbate where he completed the reordering of the Knight Prince, for which he obtained a printing privilege from Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy (5 September 1561) that was never used. He died in 1562 and was buried in the church of S. Francesco in Pesaro. After his death, the family, known as the Leonardi Della Rovere Counts of Montelabbate, continued to reside in the castle of their fiefdom and in Pesaro at Palazzo Leonardi (Via Mazzolari 52) until, after the marriage of Gian Giacomo Leonardi Montelabate della Rovere (1710-1795) on 3 March 1737 to Countess Maria Amalia Rottal, they moved to Moravia and began to disperse their estate.
Folio, (320 x 220 mm). Manuscript on paper, 63 leaves (of which 53 are numbered) and 9 off-text illustrations including 2 double-page illustrations and an accompanying manuscript bifolium, watermark with anchor and star. Composition : 1 blank card, 1 card with handwritten title on cardboard applied, 1 blank card, 3 dedication cards to Guidobaldo II, 1 Prohemio card, 1 card with a list of 39 short rules for conducting battles, 51 cards containing 91 theses, 4 final blank cards and 9 drawings of formations of soldiers of which 2 are double-page illustrations outside the text, the first accompanied by an unnumbered explanatory bifolio inserted between cards 15 and 16; Uncut (Water stains to upper and lower margin, no loss of text, small loss of paper to margins). Inserted within 16th-century binding richly gilt decorated in rollers with figure of archbishop saint in centre, probably of Roman manufacture (some wear). Please contact the department for a detailed description of the contents.. (1
ESTIMATE € 100.000 - 120.000
LEONARDI, Giovan Giacomo (1498-1522), pesarese, compì gli studi giuridici a Bologna e a Ferrara, dove si laureò nel 1522. Iniziò la propria carriera militare al servizio di Francesco II Sforza curando la fortificazione di Pavia durante l'assedio francese del 1525 per poi passare nel 1528 al servizio di Francesco Maria I Della Rovere, duca di Urbino e capitano generale delle forze di terra della Repubblica di Venezia. Tra le sue funzioni vi era quella di oratore presso il "Colleggio dei Savi" che ragguagliava sugli accadimenti militari e a cui faceva richiesta dei finanziamenti per l'esercito. Visti gli stretti legami tra Venezia e Urbino, Leonardi svolse indirettamente anche il ruolo di mediatore artistico e letterario tra le due città mantenendo regolari contatti con Tommaso Diplovatazio, Sebastiano Serlio e Pietro Bembo; inoltre fu, secondo l'Aretino, amico stretto di Tiziano al quale commissionò nel 1532 la Testa di Annibale, il Cristo e la Adorazione dei pastori per la corte urbinate e curò l'acquisto nel 1538 della Venere di Urbino. Nel 1532 presentò alla Serenissima il programma per la fortificazione di Vicenza e contemporaneamente iniziò la stesura dei propri trattati militari sotto il titolo "Il principe cavaliero". Morto Francesco Maria I nel 1538, Leonardi continuò ad essere il rappresentante del capitano generale, titolo passato al figlio di Francesco, Guidobaldo II, che lo nominò nel 1540 conte di Monte l'Abbate. Risalgono a questi anni i manoscritti il Trattato di armi e artiglieria (1540) e il Cavaliero ambasciatore (1542) dedicati al suo nuovo signore (ambedue conservati nella Biblioteca Oliveriana) per cui ottenne nuovamente la condotta delle milizie veneziane nel 1542 e nel 1546. Nel 1552 non riuscì ad ottenere per Guidobaldo il rinnovo dell'incarico a Venezia e lo seguì quindi a Roma dove era stato eletto capitano generale della Chiesa. Trascorse gli ultimi anni della sua vita lontano dai campi di battaglia e dalla politica ritirandosi nel suo feudo di Montelabbate dove completò il riordino del Principe cavaliero, per il quale ottenne da Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia un privilegio di stampa (5 settembre 1561) mai utilizzato. Morì nel 1562 e fu sepolto nella chiesa di S. Francesco di Pesaro. Dopo la sua morta, la famiglia, conosciuta come Leonardi Della Rovere conti di Montelabbate, continuò a risiedere nel castello del proprio feudo e a Pesaro a Palazzo Leonardi (Via Mazzolari 52) fino a quando, dopo il matrimonio di Gian Giacomo Leonardi Montelabate della Rovere (1710–1795) il 3 marzo 1737 con la contessa Maria Amalia Rottal, si trasferirono in Moravia iniziando la dispersione del proprio patrimonio.
LOTS
248
[MOSCOW]. Plat" Stolichnago goroda Moskvy. Moscow: Troitskaya Zastava, 1819.
[MOSCOW]. Plat" Stolichnago goroda Moskvy. Moscow: Troitskaya Zastava, 1819.
ESTIMATE € 800 - 1.200
249
[PARIS]. Plan garanti complet ou le guide dans Paris. Paris: Lallemand, 1855.
[PARIS]. Plan garanti complet ou le guide dans Paris. Paris: Lallemand, 1855.
ESTIMATE € 50 - 100