1553 Petrarch, Francesco. Poems, a diplomatic gift from the British Embassy in Venice.
Signature: Medium: Dimensions: Provenance: The signed inscription: 'Eccellentissimo Signore mio, Padrone Collendissimo Vivendo in me sempre il medesimo ardore di farmi conoscere per servitore dell'Eccellenza vostra, non perciò ho avuto animo in questo concorso di doni che le vengon fatti, di presentarmile inanzi. Ma hora non posso più ritenere tal mio disiderio che non le metta in cospetto questi due forestieri, sapendo quanto l'Eccellenza vostra sia fautrice di vertuosi et di pellegrini, et maggiormente sarà di questi, per venir essi banditi dalla patria loro. La nobiltà, dunque, dell'animo suo degnerà di dar loro ricetto tra tanti altri scrittori gravi che appresso di lei si truovano, et mi renderà certo che non le sarà mai discara la mia servitù inutile, sì, ma reale et fedele. Dell'Ecellenza vostra Divotissimo servitore, 4.1.2. Alberto Mortoni'. The gist of this is that Morton can no longer restrain his desire to present two strangers, presumably foreigners to his patron, knowing that he is the protector of the virtuous, of pilgrims and of writers, and that he will take particular care of them, since they have been exiled from their homeland. These two English emigres presumably came to the notice of Wotton and Morton during their posting to Venice between 1604 and 1609. The friendship between the two men is described by Izaak Walton as he quotes from a letter in his 'Life of Sir Henry Wotton' in which the older man recalls his nephew as 'dearer to me than mine own being', and of course subsequently penned his elegy 'Tears mourned at the grave of Sir Albertus Morton'. Wotton's career, as evidenced in this diplomatic gift, was spent implementing James I's ambition for wider European influence but later overshadowed by his aphorism that an 'Ambassador is an honest gentleman sent abroad to lie for the good of his country.' Exhibited: Literature: Il Petrarcha con La Spositione di M. Giovanni Andrea Gesualdo / I Trionfi del Petrarcha con la Spositione di M. Giovanni Andrea Gesualdo da Traetto. Venetia, Domenico Giglio, 1553. 8vo. 2 parti in 1 v... vol. (22), 346, (72) pp. with two woodcut title pages and 6 woodcuts within the "Trionfi", all by Fratelli Nicolini da Sabio. Rebound crimson morocco. The flyleaf with signed letter of dedication from by Sir Albertus Morton, secretary to (and nephew of) Sir Henry Wotton, British ambassador to Venice. BOOK more
1553 Petrarch, Francesco. Poems, a diplomatic gift from the British Embassy in Venice.
Signature: Medium: Dimensions: Provenance: The signed inscription: 'Eccellentissimo Signore mio, Padrone Collendissimo Vivendo in me sempre il medesimo ardore di farmi conoscere per servitore dell'Eccellenza vostra, non perciò ho avuto animo in questo concorso di doni che le vengon fatti, di presentarmile inanzi. Ma hora non posso più ritenere tal mio disiderio che non le metta in cospetto questi due forestieri, sapendo quanto l'Eccellenza vostra sia fautrice di vertuosi et di pellegrini, et maggiormente sarà di questi, per venir essi banditi dalla patria loro. La nobiltà, dunque, dell'animo suo degnerà di dar loro ricetto tra tanti altri scrittori gravi che appresso di lei si truovano, et mi renderà certo che non le sarà mai discara la mia servitù inutile, sì, ma reale et fedele. Dell'Ecellenza vostra Divotissimo servitore, 4.1.2. Alberto Mortoni'. The gist of this is that Morton can no longer restrain his desire to present two strangers, presumably foreigners to his patron, knowing that he is the protector of the virtuous, of pilgrims and of writers, and that he will take particular care of them, since they have been exiled from their homeland. These two English emigres presumably came to the notice of Wotton and Morton during their posting to Venice between 1604 and 1609. The friendship between the two men is described by Izaak Walton as he quotes from a letter in his 'Life of Sir Henry Wotton' in which the older man recalls his nephew as 'dearer to me than mine own being', and of course subsequently penned his elegy 'Tears mourned at the grave of Sir Albertus Morton'. Wotton's career, as evidenced in this diplomatic gift, was spent implementing James I's ambition for wider European influence but later overshadowed by his aphorism that an 'Ambassador is an honest gentleman sent abroad to lie for the good of his country.' Exhibited: Literature: Il Petrarcha con La Spositione di M. Giovanni Andrea Gesualdo / I Trionfi del Petrarcha con la Spositione di M. Giovanni Andrea Gesualdo da Traetto. Venetia, Domenico Giglio, 1553. 8vo. 2 parti in 1 v... vol. (22), 346, (72) pp. with two woodcut title pages and 6 woodcuts within the "Trionfi", all by Fratelli Nicolini da Sabio. Rebound crimson morocco. The flyleaf with signed letter of dedication from by Sir Albertus Morton, secretary to (and nephew of) Sir Henry Wotton, British ambassador to Venice. BOOK more
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
