 | This illustration documents an 1838 festival of Corpus Christi. Pope Gregory XVI arranged a procession for the event; he is featured here surrounded by cardinals as the procession winds around Saint Peter's Square. |
Seventeenth-century Venice was, during the Baroque era, no stranger to lavish
celebrations; yet in 1686, the visiting Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg
arranged a musical performance that astounded even the Venetians.
T H I S
Beinecke show examines the
Italian festival book tradition
The musicians performed on the water, atop a 40-foot glass boat in the figure
of the Greek god Proteus, which was illuminated with torches placed in its hull.
Not content simply to impress his audience, the duke also published and circulated
a book that included an illustration of the boat. His book is just one of the
highlights of the exhibition “Celebrating Italian Festivals,” which
opens on Wednesday, Oct. 3, at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
This show was organized by three Yale graduate students — Eric Knibbs,
Ayesha Ramachandran and Torrence Thomas — and Beinecke acquisitions assistant
Amelia Prostano under the leadership of Robert G. Babcock, curator of early books and manuscripts.
From the 16th through the 19th centuries, the royal and aristocratic courts behind
Europe’s most illustrious festivals printed elaborate, illustrated volumes
to record the celebrations that they organized to mark births, deaths, betrothals,
weddings, coronations and visits. Often circulated for the benefit of rival noble
families and in the interests of self-promotion, festival books are witnesses
to aristocratic culture and art during the Early Modern period, note the exhibit
organizers.
Featuring over 60 volumes from across Italy, “Celebrating Italian Festivals” is
designed to provide a rare and up-close look at the Italian festival book tradition.
The books on display document a wide array of festivities, among them athletic
competitions, tournaments, parades, fireworks, and theatrical and operatic performances.
The cities, noble families and wealthy individuals who organized these celebrations
competed with each other to hold the most illustrious events possible, note the
organizers, and hired Italy’s most famous artists, composers, librettists,
choreographers, actors, singers and architects to develop their elaborate spectacles.
One highlight of the exhibit is a book describing the wedding celebration of
the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Published in 1579, it is one of the first books ever
printed with color plates. The Beinecke show will exhibit three variant copies
of this rare volume. Also on display will be several volumes with illustrations
by the printmaker Jacques Callot, who spent almost a decade in Florence and produced
plates for a number of festival books. One book, published to describe a tournament
held in Florence in 1616, includes an illustration by Callot that depicts a mock
battle held in the Piazza Santa Croce. Another Callot illustration accompanies
a description of the obsequies held to honor the death of the Emperor Matthias
of Hapsburg in 1619.
Italian festival books grew more elaborate with the passage of time, say the
organizers. One volume in the exhibit commemorates a parade held in Palermo on
the feast day of Santa Rosalia in 1704. The book not only describes the event,
but also includes a fold-out illustration of the entire parade. Over six feet
in length, it depicts every float and participant, in order. Another book documents
the procession for the feast of Corpus Christi organized by Pope Gregory XVI
in 1838. The book consists of a single color illustration that, unfolded, is
more than 38 feet long. It includes every one of the thousands of participants
in the procession, including the pope himself, at about the midpoint of the procession.
Other books in the display record the celebrations surrounding the law school
graduation of a relative of Pope Clement XI, the discovery of the relics of San
Placido, the coronation of the Emperor Charles VI as King of Sicily and the annual
Bolognese festival involving the roasting of a pig.
“Celebrating Italian Festivals” will continue through Jan. 9. Opening
night will include a lecture by Sarah Knight of the University of Leicester,
at 5:15 p.m. with a reception afterward. The event is free and open to the public.
The Beinecke Library, 121 Wall St., is open for exhibition viewing 8:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday; and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday.
For further information, call (203) 432-2972 or visit the library’s website
at www.library.yale.edu/beinecke. 
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Campus Notes
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