Pena, Pierre and Matthias de L’Obel

Folio (300 x 201mm.), woodcut architectural title, 273 woodcuts in text (including the inserted cuts to pp. 11, 33, 150, 252, and 400), and 13 woodcut initials, all in fine contemporary colouring, the title and initials heightened with gold by Hoefnagel, contemporary Antwerp gilt-panelled calf with central gilt medallion (the gilt mostly gone), edges gauffred and gilt, some leaves with some light browning, a few minor marginal tears, small paper flaw in Y6 repaired, rebacked preserving original spine

note on rear pastedown “Octob. Ano. 86 die Jovis a Georgio Huofnagli pictore in Bibliothecam Ducalem accipiebam” (received from Georg Hoefnagel painter Thursday October 1586 in the Ducal library) in the hand of the Ducal librarian Wolfgang Prommer; Wilhelm V, Grand Duke of Bavaria, large engraved armorial bookplate of the Grand Ducal library “Ex Electorali bibliotheca sereniss. utriusq. Bavariae Ducum”; Per Hierte, with 19th-century inscription in Danish, describing the Hoefnagel assocation and stating that the binding is from the Plantin shop; 20th-century; Hjalmar Hartmann, bookplate

Hunt 127; Nissen BBI 1502; Stafleu TL2 4907; Voet 1578 (pp.1408-1409: This volume contains Voet's variant B of the 'Nova stirpium adversaria', followed by 'Formulæ aliquot remedorium' and 'In stirpium observationes', ie Voet's parts IIB, IV & III). cf.Henrey 289.

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A splendidly illuminated copy of this herbal, coloured by Joris (Georg) Hoefnagel (1542-1600), Flemish artist, the ‘last great manuscript illuminator’ for his patron Wilhelm V, Grand Duke of Bavaria. This is one of a very few sixteenth-century illustrated books with original colouring by a known artist, in this case a major figure in the highly erudite and sophisticated court of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. This is the only known example of his illuminations of a printed book. 

Hoefnagel, born in Antwerp in 1542, was a friend of this volume’s publisher, Christoper Plantin. He left Antwerp in 1577 in the company of the great mapmaker Abraham Ortelius (whose publisher Plantin also was), and it was in the course of their travels to Italy that they met the great collectors Marx Fugger and Adolph Occo, who introduced them to Albert V, Duke of Bavaria. Albert, upon seeing portraits and a painting on vellum by Hoefnagel, engaged him as his court artist.

Hoefnagel was employed as court painter from 1578 to 1591 for the Munich court of the Dukes of Bavaria (first for Albert, then for his son Wilhelm who succeeded him), after which he worked for the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II in Frankfurt and Vienna. “The conditions of Hoefnagel’s service to the Munich court differed significantly from those of other court painters such as Friedrich Sustris and Peter Candid. Probably on the basis of his own request, he was granted the freedom to pursue interests not directly related to his duties. His average annual salary of 15 gilders, when compared with the 200 to 350 gilders granted to other court painters, indicates that he was probably concerned less with money than with the security the post offered. Under the court’s protection, he was able to pursue his activities unhindered by city regulations and guild rules. He worked for the entire court - for the duke; his brother, Ferdinand; and other distinguished patrons, who paid him separately. The most important project of this period was the illumination of a Roman missal between 1581 and 1590 for Ferdinand of Tyrol, uncle of Duke William V of Bavaria” (Thea Vignau-Wilberg, “Joris Hoefnagel, The Illuminator” in Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta). Hoefnagel is known to have been a regular reader in the ducal library during his period as court painter (cf. O. Hartig, “Die Gründung der Müncher Hofbibliothek durch Albrecht V and Johann Jakob Fugger”, in Abhandlungen der Königlich Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 28, 1917).

Hoefnagel was the creator of “Europe’s last great illuminated manuscript”, the Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta (now in the Getty Museum), originally a calligraphical manuscript by the master calligrapher Georg Bocskay, imperial secretary to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. This manuscript is a virtuoso tour-de-force, demonstrating the superiority of the written word and Bocskay’s skills as calligrapher. Some 30 years later Hoefnagel was commissioned by Ferdinand’s grandson, Rudolf II, to illuminate it, and Hoefnagel took the occasion to turn the work into a contest between the written and visual, with the pictorial portion clearly winning the laurels. Botanical images feature significantly in the manuscript, “which is distinctive among his manuscripts for its extensive illustrations of the plant world”. Interestingly, Hoefnagel was closely connected to the Plantin press and its circle of Antwerp scholars and botanists, such as Charles l’Écluse, and his illumination of this herbal demonstrates his early familiarity with botanical subjects.

Hoefnagel was responsible for other manuscript illuminations, as well as the breathtaking manuscript, also created for Rudolf II, of the Four Elements (now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington).