Rare, first edition of this funeral oration for Lorenzo de Medici, read in Santa Maria Nuova on 16 April 1492, evidently the only contemporary printed oration of the many delivered and printed in his honor to survive. “Lorenzo de’ Medici… (born January 1, 1449, Florence [Italy]—died April 9, 1492, Careggi..... More
Second edition of Aleotti's Italian translation of Hero's Pneumatics, and like the author's related title on automata, of interest for 17th-century theatrical machinery and festival productions. The mechanical wonders of the school of Alexandria gave the Renaissance Vitruvian architect engineer the sources he needed, for example, for garden automata; for..... More
First edition of a sumptuous festival book commemorating the inauguration of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI in 1717 as Count of Flanders, featuring an allegorical frontispiece and six large folding plates, including four engravings of the extravagant firework displays that followed the ceremony. The book provides a meticulous day-by-day..... More
Extremely rare first and sole edition of this Mallorcan festival book commemorating the festivities held in Palma on the occasion of Charles IV’s accession to the throne. The description, with its careful lists of the noblemen involved, constitutes a snapshot of Mallorcan society at the end of the eighteenth century..... More
Highly finished preparatory design for a fresco or tapestry connected to the Albani family, whose coat of arms appears under the left-hand arch crowned with a cardinal's hat. Under the central arch of the drawing, preceded by a palafreniero, four servants in blue and white livery carry a red baldacchino..... More
Rare, illustrated collection of nine ephemeral fête programs documenting three generations of royal entries into Barcelona: Charles III in 1783, his son Charles IV in 1802, and grandson Ferdinand VII in 1827. This group of pamphlets affords a comparison between royal entries staged before and after the French occupation of..... More
![Painted theater or festival decoration]. THEATER DECORATION, / / ANONYMOUS, FESTIVAL DECORATION](/pictures/thumb/22.jpg?v=1517517166)
Intriguing over-life-size painting of a female allegorical sculpture set in an architectural niche, a rare surviving example of a type of ephemeral decoration most closely associated with the scenography of the neoclassical theater and with the (often elaborate) temporary festival structures especially popular in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth..... More