DE SPHAERA - Il burino art editions

Illuminated manuscript on parchment, circa 1470, 17x24 cm,
composed of 16 cards that give life to a 32-page book,
of which 7 are white with orthogonal ruling in red ink, 15 are entirely illuminated,
9 with astronomical drawings and a Tabula climatum;
semi-Gothic bookish script, in Italian, in red, sepia and blue ink.

De Sphaera is unanimously considered the finest astrological book of the Italian Renaissance. Illuminated for the court of Milan by a refined artist of the Lombard school (perhaps Cristoforo de Predis), it reached the Este family of Ferrara as part of their frequent artistic and cultural exchanges with the Sforza court.
The codex summarizes, with unparalleled elegance, the astrological knowledge of the time and, above all, bears witness to its new authority, the credibility achieved by faith in the stars—both fashionable and cultural—at the most powerful and refined courts. De Sphaera adds lustre to an already fruitful vein, that of planetary and zodiacal iconography, with the beauty of its miniatures and the rhyming verses of the horoscopes.
Twelve basic colors were used to print this work in order to best render both the chromatic structure of the miniatures and the visual and tactile sensation of the original.
The use of a frequency modulation or stochastic printing system instead of the traditional round dot screen, combined with a resolution more than double that of traditional high-quality printing, allows the finesse of the miniature to be appreciated even through a magnifying glass.
The edition is completed by a commentary, an important historical and artistic volume, richly illustrated. Its authors are: Gianni Venturi, professor of the history of Italian literature at the University of Florence and director of the Institute of Renaissance Studies in Ferrara; Giovanna Lazzi, art historian and director of the Riccardiana Library in Florence; Annalisa Battini, librarian at the Estense University of Modena; and Marco Bertozzi, professor at the University of Ferrara.

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