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Leaf from Degli habiti antichi et moderni di diverse parti del mondo by Cesare Vecellio: Ambassadors and Consuls (p. 84a-b)
Leaf from Degli habiti antichi et moderni di diverse parti del mondo by Cesare Vecellio: Ambassadors and Consuls (p. 84a-b)

Leaf from Degli habiti antichi et moderni di diverse parti del mondo by Cesare Vecellio: Ambassadors and Consuls (p. 84a-b)

Artist Cesare Vecellio (author, woodcut/engraver designer) Italian, Pieve di Cadore 1521–1601 Venice
Printer Damiano Zenaro Italian, active Venice 1563–circa 1604
Artist Christoph Krieger (woodcut) German, b. Nuremberg, d. Venice circa 1590
Date1590
MediumInk on paper, hand-colored woodblock
Dimensions6 1/4 x 4 in. (15.9 x 10.2 cm)
ClassificationsBook Arts
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the State of North Carolina
Object number62.1.1/11
On View
Not on view
Label TextIn 1590 Venetian artist Cesare Vecellio, a distant cousin of Titian, published a massive treatise on costume illustrated with 421 woodcuts. The book depicts customary clothing of Europeans (including Ottoman Turks), Asians, and Africans.

The present woodcut illustrates a Venetian consul to Syria prior to the region’s conquest by Ottoman Turks (1517). Vecellio described his elegant attire, encompassing full-length robe, mantle fastened at the shoulder with golden buttons, and gold chain, as no longer customary for the consul post in Syria. “Although one is still posted there today,” he noted, “the splendor and pomp of this costume is reserved for those who serve as ambassador-consuls (baili) in [Istanbul].”
[L. Humphrey, “Venice and the Ottoman Empire,” 2024]
ProvenanceFerdinand Roten Galleries, Inc., Baltimore, MD.Published References"Catalogue of Early Book Art," North Carolina Museum of Art Calendar of Art Events (May 1962), cat. no. 39.

"Acquisitions," North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 4, nos. 2 and 3 (Winter-Spring 1964), listed 66.
Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Early Book Arts," May 1962, then traveling, cat. no. 39.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Venice and the Ottoman Empire," September 28, 2024-January 5, 2025. Object Rights Statement

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