Medici Aesop Ca. 1480
Spencer 50 The New York Public Library (New York, USA) / Private Collection 
Aesop's ancient fables in the opulent dress of the Italian Renaissance: the unprecedented Greek textbook with 135 miniatures for the eldest son of Lorenzo de' Medici
 
Style: Renaissance
Language: Greek
Previous owners:  Lorenzo’s son, Piero (1471–1503)
Leatherbound: Burgundy Leather
Pages: 150 pages
Dimensions: A4 , 210 x 297cm , 8.3" x 11.7"
 
The codex in the New York Public Library (Spencer 50) is unquestionably the most strikingly attractive and lavishly illustrated version of Aesop’s Fables to emerge from the Italian Renaissance. It was created during the latter part of the quattrocento period in Florence, at that time under the rule of Lorenzo de’Medici (1449-1492), who appears to have personally commissioned this work. It first appears in a catalogue of the Medici library compiled in 1495 and almost certainly was intended for Lorenzo’s son, Piero (1471-1503).
 
The fables are recounted in Greek, a language that Piero learned from his tutor, the celebrated humanist Angelo Poliziano, who may well have influenced the design of the codex and textual matters.
MS Spencer 50 is a small and charming volume measuring 200×120 mm., consisting of 150 pages. Each of the fables recounted is illustrated by a miniature. Originally, the codex included 147 fables; of these, 135 miniatures have survived, in addition to the frontispiece portrait of Aesop, and 132 complete fables.
 
By comparing this with other Greek manuscripts of Aesop’s fables from the Florentine mid-quattrocento, it has been possible to establish a complete listing of the original 147 fables and identify those which are missing. 
 
Shipped by Express FEDEX/UPS service to worldwide for free