In her introduction Lilian Armstrong states that “this study will show how the surviving copies of a single printed edition, the Petrarchan Libro degli uomini famosi of 1476, provide information about humanist concerns and book production in northern Italy in the late fifteenth century” (1). The book focuses on the problem of hand-painted illuminations added to the Libro degli uomini famosi, translated from De Viris Illustribus and printed by the scribe and humanist Felice Feliciano, in collaboration with Innocente Ziletti in Poiano. The first chapter introduces the text, comprising thirty-six lives of Roman heroes, and the history of Feliciano, and reviews literary and visual traditions.

In chapter 2, “The Illustrated Copies of the 1476 Libro degli uomini famosi in London and Paris,” the author discusses the heroes drawn or painted within woodcut knotwork or vine motif borders in two copies. These are described as “striking examples of the hand-illuminated incunable … [which is] rich material for understanding the humanistic interest in classical personages” (37). Miniatures of the British Library are attributed to the Master of the Rimini Ovid and those of the Bibliothèque nationale to the Pico Master, both prominent illuminators in Venice in the last third of the Quattrocento. Her study of iconographic, technical, and formal similarities of the hero drawings leads Armstrong to conclude that the two series are interrelated or derived from a single prototype. Only three additional extant Quattrocento manuscripts of De Viris Illustribus or the Libro degli uomini famosi are illuminated with sets of heroes, but “these nevertheless show little development of individual or narrative imagery for many of the Petrarch heroes” (42). Armstrong attributes the absence of a rich iconographic tradition for De Viris Illustribus manuscripts to the influence of lost frescoes in the Sala Virorum Illustrium (1370s), which she considers likely models for the London and Paris illuminations.

“The Sala virorum illustirum of the Reggia Carrarese in Padua” is the theme of the third chapter. Armstrong’s aim “is to suggest that the heroes drawn and painted in the two copies of Feliciano’s edition of the Libro degli uomini famosi assist in visualizing the grandest ‘Petrarchan’ work of art initiated in the author’s lifetime” (85). One of the major problems, to which Armstrong refers, is that Petrarch died in 1374, whereas the earliest literary evidence for the execution of the Paduan frescoes dates from 1379. Consequently, the degree to which Petrarch or his patron, Francesco da Carrara il Vecchio, determined the program is disputed. In her discussion of literary sources for De Viris Illustribus, the author cites past research by scholars “who all agreed that the Reggia Carrarese cyle was a significant statement of Francesco I da Carrara’s admiration for the classical past, as well as a source of inspiration for many subsequent cycles” (86). The author follows earlier attempts by T. E. Mommsen (“Petrarch and the Decoration of the Sala virorum illustrium in Padua” [1952]) to reconstruct the appearance of the Trecento frescoes, adopting his theory that grisaille miniatures of the Libro in Darmstadt MS 101 reflect scenes painted under the hero figures, which are attributed to Altichiero or Avanzo. Miniatures in a presentation manuscript of De Viris Illustribus for Francesco da Carrrara, with additions by Lombardo dell Seta and illuminations by Altichiero (BnF, MS lat. 6069F, 1379) are hypothetically related by Armstrong to the Carrarese frescoes.

In chapter 4 the author discusses illuminated copies of Feliciano’s edition and related works that were not executed in Venice, questioning the influence of visual sources from other North Italian centers. In chapter 5 the modest success of Feliciano’s text is compared with the success of other classical texts published in Venice by Nicolaus Jenson. Armstrong emphasizes the repetitious and anachronistic nature of illuminations in extant copies of Feliciano’s edition. By 1476 the style of the heroes’ armor “would have appeared anachronistic when compared to frescoes by Mantegna in the Ovetari Chapel in the early 1450s, where the Roman soldiers are carefully rendered in ‘archaeologically correct’ armour” (93). Nevertheless, she concludes that the only models for illustrators would have been frescoes in the Sala Virorum Illustrium as there were no manuscripts with comparable depictions of classical military heroes. One might question this conclusion. Why would an anachronistic Trecento fresco be preferred to a prestigious fresco cycle by Mantegna that provided suitable models?

This book is a focused and extremely scholarly study intended for specialists in early Renaissance manuscript and printed book illustrations. A census of extant copies of the 1476 Libri degli uomini famosi, color plates, a comprehensive bibliography, and indexes complete this learned contribution.