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| BIOGRAPHY OF GIUSEPPE MENABUONI |
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“During the first quarter of the seventeenth century, Niccolo Gualtieri was physician to Cosimo III, the Medici ruler of Tuscany, who had an interest in shells. It may have been to satisfy this interest that Gualtieri began to compile his folio book, although it was not published until nearly twenty years after Cosimo’s death. The Index Testarum Conchyliorum, one of the pioneering books about conchology, is distinguished for its bold engravings, many showing shells resembling curiously shaped spinning-tops. Compared with most of the engravings…[of the time]…these appear to show the shells upside down – a feature of shell illustration associated more particularly with books published in France. Although the book was not normally issued with the plates colored, some copies were colored later, presumably for the delectation of wealthy owners…[Many colorists] used a limited palette and showed a sublime disregard for accuracy, suggesting that the coloring is nearly as old as the book.”
Excerpts from Classic Natural History Prints Shells by S. Peter Dance and David Heppell, Studio Editions London, 1991. pg.8.
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