Portraits
Aldus Manutius
Copperplate engraving of Aldus Manutius. Nuremberg: Johann Leonhard Blank, 1725.
From the collection of G. Scott Clemons.
Paulus Manutius
[Engraving of Paulus Manutius from] Isaac Bullart. Academie des Sciences et des Arts, Contenant les Vies, & les Eloges Historiques des Hommes Illustres … Tome Second. Amsterdam: Elzevier, 1682.
This engraving of Paulus Manutius was executed by Nicolas III de Larmessin (1640–1725), and included in Bullart’s compendium of the lives and images of illustrious men, published by Daniel Elzevier.
From the collection of G. Scott Clemons.
Grolier in the House of Aldus, Or, Artistic License Run Wild
Flameng, François.
A study for Grolier in the House of Aldus, oil on canvas, ca. 1894.
Visitors to the Grolier Club will recognize this familiar image that hangs over the reception desk in the entrance hall, depicting Aldus Manutius showing his books to a seated and splendidly attired Jean Grolier. The painting was commissioned by Samuel Putnam Avery (1822–1904), who, among various other philanthropic pursuits, became a member of the Grolier Club in the year of its founding. François Flameng (1856–1923) painted this smaller version as a study, making substantial changes before the finished product, most notably in the age of Jean Grolier.
Flameng took great artistic license with this picture: a Venetian printing press was a noisy, crowded place without sweeping views of the Venetian lagoon, and the evidence shows that Aldus Manutius and Jean Grolier met precisely once, in 1511, in the Treasurer’s house in Milan.
From the collections of the Grolier Club.