Ottini, Felice ( -1697)

Proportioni overo simedrie del antico. 124 anatomical pen-drawings, with letterpress in Italian: copied from the originals of Carlo Cesi, Michael ángelo, Jean Cousin the Younger, and others, by Felice Ottini. The last 7 ll., which were purchased separately, are clearly part of the larger section. They contain several copies of drawings headed 'Figura anatomica di Giovanni Cusin pittore e geometro excellente in Parigi vivente nel 1593'. This is Jean Cousin, the Younger [1522-1594], author of 'Livre de pourtraicture' 1571, from which these copies have been made. The larger section contains drawings, copied from Carlo Cesi [1622-1686], Michael Angelo [1474-1564] and others. The drawings seem to have been made on odd sheets, and even on backs of letters, as in fol. 23, on the verso of which is the text of a letter dated Perugia, 18/7/1693. Unfortunately both the name of the writer and of the addressee are wanting. The letter asks for information about Giacinto Brandi [1623-1691] also a painter, and it seems to have been written by the maker of these copies to an unnamed pupil of Brandi. A fragment of the address of another letter directed to a 'Signor Giacinto' is found on the verso of fol. 16. This may be the Signor Giacinto Boccandra of Rome, of whom no particulars have been ascertained, whose address is written on the verso of the last leaf of the collection. The attribution of this collection of drawings to Felice Ottini is made by the bookseller Rappoport of Rome, in a note which is pasted in on the upper cover of the volume. He also considers that the letter dated 1693 is by the hand of Leone Pascoli the Italian biographer [1674-1744], but this seems doubtful, as Pascoli would be only 19 years old at the time of writing. Produced in Perugia?

1693

1 volume 41 ll., 7 ll. folio. 27 × 201/2 cm. Modern boards. Many of the sheets have numbers, and the collection is not complete. It has been re-foliated in pencil.

Purchased 1922.

This material has been digitised and can be freely accessed online through Wellcome Collection catalogue.

Database description transcribed from S.A.J. Moorat, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1962-1973).