Fiorenza

Etching and engraving, signed in plate at lower right. Example in the first state of two, before the two lines that appear on the imprint of Matteo Florimi (the only known copy is preserved in the Bertarelli Collection in Milan).

In the upper center, below the top border, is the title: FLOWERING. In the upper left corner a wind rose, without the names of the cardinal points or winds. In the upper right corner are represented the Medici and the city coat of arms.On the right side, a legend with 17 references to places related to the Fortezza da Basso. In the lower right-hand corner, the NOTABLE PLACES, a numeric legend with 228 references, in five columns, to places and monuments.  Below the legend, in a cartouche: Oltra alli soprascritti luoghi notati si trova de[n]tro alla Città ventidue Spedali de quali cinque ne sono deputati alli infermi cinque a putti et a putte abbandonati et dodici per li poveri; et peregrini et cento trenta. Undeci per li putti delle quali alcune son dette compagnie di disciplina, altre di devotione, et altre di stendardo, tutte pero attendano a opere p[er] te et di carita; come maritar fanciulle, governare infermi, scarcerar imprigionati et seppellire morti, ci sono altri oratori et altri luoghi di devotione, che per brevità si lascano. Segue l’imprint editoriale Matteo Florimi for. Jn Siena.

The image is a simplified reproduction, according to the practice of the printer Matteo Florimi, of Bonsignori's Florence from the 1594 edition, as demonstrated by the elimination of the column in Piazza San Marco and the series of toponymic references. It is more probable that this is a copy of Rascicotti's map, to which it is identical except for the absence of the dedication to Ferdinando I. According to Mori-Boffito, it can be dated between 1594, the year in which was published the second version of the view by Bonsignori , and 1613, the year of the death of Matteo Florimi; after this date, the prints issued by the Sienese workshop bear the excudit of the heirs.

Magnificent proof, printed on contemporary laid paper, reconstructive restoration in the left side of about 5 centimeters perfectly executed, otherwise in excellent condition.  Very finely hand colored.

Matteo Florimi (Polistena c. 1540 - Siena 1613) was a publisher and merchant of books and prints. Of Calabrian origin, he settled in Siena in 1581, with a store “in Banchi”. Matteo Florimi's chalcographic activity was several times joined by master engravers such as Cornelis Galle, Arnoldo Arnoldi, Pieter de Iode, Jan Sadeler and artists such as Francesco Vanni, Ventura Salimbeni and Alessandro Casolani, with whom the printer collaborated in the preparation of religious subjects. Florimi's cartographic activity produced prints of many cities and territories around the world, which were never drawn for him, but were manipulations of already existing reliefs, or of maps published by other printers. In the second half of the sixteenth century, Florimi was far-sighted in devoting himself to the production of bird's-eye views of cities as faithfully as possible.  Florimi copied some maps by Antonio Lafreri, Claude Duchet, Abraham Ortelius. As far as map engraving work was concerned, in 1600, Matteo Florimi called the Flemish engraver Arnoldo degli Arnoldi to work in his workshop with the promise of greater compensation than that bestowed upon him by Giovanni Antonio Magini, with whom the artist was working. This offer by Florimi triggered the wrath of Magini, who, though not naming him, called him an "envious counterfeiter" for stealing such a skilled cartographer from him. The collaboration between Florimi and Arnoldi lasted only two years (1600-1602), but it was quite productive: together they printed the Stato di Siena, la Choronografia Tusciae, la Nuova descrittione della Lombardia, l’Europa, l’America and the Descrittione Universale della Terra.

Bibliografia

Bifolco-Ronca, Cartografia e topografia italiana del XVI Secolo (2018): p. 2166, Tav. 1103, I/II; Christie’s (1998): n. 1013; Shirley (1998): p. 42, n. 32; Shirley (2004): III, n. 23; Benevolo (1969): pp. 56-61, tav. VII; Boffa (2013): II, n. 8; Fauser (1978): vol. 1, p. 217, n. 3930; Frangenberg (1994): p. 55, fig. 7; Van der Heijden (1993): n. 24; Mazzotta (1998): p. 14, n. 26; Mori-Boffito (1926): pp. 44-46.