Il Libro delle antichità di Pirro Ligorio

Pirro Ligorio was born in Naples and died in 1583 in Ferrara at the age of 70, and was one of the most famous antiquaries of the Renaissance. As a passionate observer of the classical world, he devoted his life to a work which either in treatise (more than 50 volumes) or in dictionary form (23 volum...

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1. autor: Cusanno, Chiara
Format: Article ou chapitre numérique
Język:Français
Wydane: 1999
Dostęp online:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
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spelling cairn-BUBIB_330_art005BUBIBBulletin du bibliophile https://shs.cairn.info/revue-bulletin-du-bibliophile-1999-2-page-275?lang=fr https://doi.org/10.3917/bubib.330.art005 Il Libro delle antichità di Pirro Ligorio Cusanno, Chiara1999 fre Bulletin du bibliophile | - | 2 | 1999-06-01 | p. 275-292 | 0399-9742 BUBIB_33043 Pirro Ligorio was born in Naples and died in 1583 in Ferrara at the age of 70, and was one of the most famous antiquaries of the Renaissance. As a passionate observer of the classical world, he devoted his life to a work which either in treatise (more than 50 volumes) or in dictionary form (23 volumes in alphabetical order) illustrates every aspect of antiquity in word and image. Ligorio was a draughtsman, a painter, an architect and an archaeologist, besides being a collector of coins and medals. After working in Rome at the decoration of the facades of a number of palaces, he participated in archaeological digs at Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli in the service of Cardinal Ippolito d’Este. He took an active part in the planning of the garden of the new villa at Tivoli. His best known works as an architect, however, are the Casina in the Vatican Gardens and the realignment of the courtyard of the Belvedere for Pope Pius IV (1559-65). His Plan of ancient Rome, published in Venice in 1553, is also of great importance. The collection of Pirro Ligorio’s manuscripts preserved in the library of the State Archives of Turin, described as his ‘Book of Antiquities’ (Libro delle antichità) consists of 30 illustrated volumes in which material is divided into books numbered by the author himself. Other Ligorian books are preserved in Oxford (Bodleian Library), Naples (Biblioteca Nazionale), Paris (Bibliothèque nationale de France) and in the Vatican Library, which also holds a copy commissioned by Queen Christina of Sweden. The first 18 volumes of the Turin collection contain an enormous treatise on classical antiquity in the form of an encyclopaedia. The other books, in some of which there are gaps, contain various separate essays (on dragons, on the basilisk, on abbreviations in inscriptions and on Roman law). Volume 23 is of particular importance for its iconographical interest. It contains three books on illustrious men (heroes, philosophers, poets, historians, emperors, divinities, etc.) amply illustrated with busts and masks. In the last four volumes, various subjects are gathered together. In volume 28 there is a treatise of some documentary importance on the subject of earthquakes, and an account of that of Ferrara in 1570. The 30th volume, known as the ‘Book of Drawings’, is a collection of mythological scenes and characters, of portraits and of architectural details. Trained in the circle of humanists and scholars of the quality of Agustín, Pighius, and Panvinio, Ligorio nevertheless adopted a profoundly innovative method of working with regard to the tradition of antiquarian studies. His was that of historical illustration, something which is demonstrated by his interest in coins and inscriptions which richly illustrate his entire work. Being extremely knowledgeable about the art collections of his day, he himself deliberately aimed to gather together a systematic corpus of materials with the intention of developing from it a rudimentary scheme of classification. The Turin manuscripts were acquired on the antiquarian market in 1615 by Duke Carlo Emanuele I of Savoy, a great patron of the arts and himself an artist and a poet. These became one of the ornaments of the Great Gallery which sheltered the library and the rare and precious objects which the Duke had collected on the pattern of the Wunderkammern to be found all over Europe at that period.Cairn restricted access
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description Pirro Ligorio was born in Naples and died in 1583 in Ferrara at the age of 70, and was one of the most famous antiquaries of the Renaissance. As a passionate observer of the classical world, he devoted his life to a work which either in treatise (more than 50 volumes) or in dictionary form (23 volumes in alphabetical order) illustrates every aspect of antiquity in word and image. Ligorio was a draughtsman, a painter, an architect and an archaeologist, besides being a collector of coins and medals. After working in Rome at the decoration of the facades of a number of palaces, he participated in archaeological digs at Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli in the service of Cardinal Ippolito d’Este. He took an active part in the planning of the garden of the new villa at Tivoli. His best known works as an architect, however, are the Casina in the Vatican Gardens and the realignment of the courtyard of the Belvedere for Pope Pius IV (1559-65). His Plan of ancient Rome, published in Venice in 1553, is also of great importance. The collection of Pirro Ligorio’s manuscripts preserved in the library of the State Archives of Turin, described as his ‘Book of Antiquities’ (Libro delle antichità) consists of 30 illustrated volumes in which material is divided into books numbered by the author himself. Other Ligorian books are preserved in Oxford (Bodleian Library), Naples (Biblioteca Nazionale), Paris (Bibliothèque nationale de France) and in the Vatican Library, which also holds a copy commissioned by Queen Christina of Sweden. The first 18 volumes of the Turin collection contain an enormous treatise on classical antiquity in the form of an encyclopaedia. The other books, in some of which there are gaps, contain various separate essays (on dragons, on the basilisk, on abbreviations in inscriptions and on Roman law). Volume 23 is of particular importance for its iconographical interest. It contains three books on illustrious men (heroes, philosophers, poets, historians, emperors, divinities, etc.) amply illustrated with busts and masks. In the last four volumes, various subjects are gathered together. In volume 28 there is a treatise of some documentary importance on the subject of earthquakes, and an account of that of Ferrara in 1570. The 30th volume, known as the ‘Book of Drawings’, is a collection of mythological scenes and characters, of portraits and of architectural details. Trained in the circle of humanists and scholars of the quality of Agustín, Pighius, and Panvinio, Ligorio nevertheless adopted a profoundly innovative method of working with regard to the tradition of antiquarian studies. His was that of historical illustration, something which is demonstrated by his interest in coins and inscriptions which richly illustrate his entire work. Being extremely knowledgeable about the art collections of his day, he himself deliberately aimed to gather together a systematic corpus of materials with the intention of developing from it a rudimentary scheme of classification. The Turin manuscripts were acquired on the antiquarian market in 1615 by Duke Carlo Emanuele I of Savoy, a great patron of the arts and himself an artist and a poet. These became one of the ornaments of the Great Gallery which sheltered the library and the rare and precious objects which the Duke had collected on the pattern of the Wunderkammern to be found all over Europe at that period.
author Cusanno, Chiara
spellingShingle Cusanno, Chiara
Il Libro delle antichità di Pirro Ligorio
author_facet Cusanno, Chiara
author_sort Cusanno, Chiara
title Il Libro delle antichità di Pirro Ligorio
title_short Il Libro delle antichità di Pirro Ligorio
title_full Il Libro delle antichità di Pirro Ligorio
title_fullStr Il Libro delle antichità di Pirro Ligorio
title_full_unstemmed Il Libro delle antichità di Pirro Ligorio
title_sort il libro delle antichità di pirro ligorio
publishDate 1999
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url https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://shs.cairn.info/revue-bulletin-du-bibliophile-1999-2-page-275?lang=fr
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