FR EN
1 / 6
an old book with a drawing of a building and people standing in front of itan old book with a decorative design on the covera piece of paper with a black and white image on itan old paper with writing on itan old drawing of a building with a column on top of itan open book with two pages of writing on it
Featured lot selected by the auctions House.
Premium Wannenes Art Auctions

47 - LEONARDI, Giovan Giacomo (1498–1562).
See original version (Italian)

Estimate €60,000 - €100,000
Sale commission
Description
LEONARDI, Giovan Giacomo (1498–1562). On the Battles of Our Times. Manuscript, c. 1540–1552. An exceptional unpublished manuscript by Giovan Giacomo Leonardi, diplomat, soldier and military theorist in the service of the Della Rovere family, almost certainly connected with the ambitious *Principe cavaliero*, the major military project on which he worked in his later years and for which he obtained a printing licence in 1561, which was never exercised. The work is dedicated to Guidobaldo II Della Rovere (1514–1574), Duke of Urbino and son of Francesco Maria I, portrayed as the prince and commander capable of restoring Italy’s liberty: You alone, who through study and the training of your own troops and those of the Venetian lords and their soldiers, are devising a plan to liberateItalia [You alone, who through study and the training of your own troops and those of the Venetian lords and their soldiers, are considering how to liberate Italy]. In the dedication, Leonardi sets out the method underlying his work. Taking the classical authorities on history and military tactics as his starting point, he seeks to move beyond scholarly commentary by testing the precepts of the ancients against the realities of contemporary warfare: we all read Vegetius, Aelian and the like; yet no one, whilst investigating what they wrote in their own times, takes care to find the best way to adapt it to our understanding so that we may imitate them]. Aelian and the like, yet no one, in examining what they wrote for their own times, seeks to discover how best to adapt it to our understanding so that we may imitate them]. In the prologue, Leonardi further compares the organisation of an army to the creation of the human body, invoking the example of the artist: With the words of this man (*Michelangelo) in mind, I too consider that the prince-cavalier must assemble the body of an army just as a painter might conceive the human figure [With the words of this man (*Michelangelo) in mind, I too consider that the prince-cavalier must assemble the body of an army just as a painter might conceive the human figure]. This is followed by a practical compendium of 39 concise rules for the conduct of battle, revealing the distinctly pragmatic nature of Leonardi’s military thought. Numerical superiority, discipline and organisation are presented as essential conditions for victory; the pike and arquebus are identified as the weapons necessarie alla battaglia [necessary for battle], whilst cavalry is assigned an increasingly subordinate role. Leonardi also challenges the lingering chivalric conception of warfare embraced by some contemporary writers: ‘Those modern writers who have longed for the shield of the ancient Romans have forgotten the arquebuses’. At the heart of the manuscript are 91 concise theses devoted to the practical organisation and conduct of warfare: the recruitment and management of troops, weaponry, the organisation of armies, battle formations, and offensive and defensive tactics, with frequent comparisons between ancient and modern military practice. The text is illustrated with nine drawings, two of which are double-page spreads, depicting the various troop formations devised by Leonardi and probably executed within the Urbino court. The manuscript can be reliably dated to between 1540 and 1552. Leonardi refers to himself as ‘Giova Jacomo Leonardi da Pesaro, Count of Monte l’Abbate’, using the title granted to him by Guidobaldo II in 1540, whilst the dedication still refers to the Duke in his capacity as commander of the Venetian forces, a position which was not renewed in 1552. The manuscript is therefore closely related to Leonardi’s other military writings now preserved in the Biblioteca Oliveriana in Pesaro: the *Trattato di armi e artiglieria* of 1540, the *Cavaliero ambasciatore* of 1542 (ms. 216), the *Libro delle fortificazioni dei nostri tempi* of 1553 (ms. 220), the *Libro sopra l’alloggiar d’un esercito* (ms. 221), and the *Principe cavaliere in duello* (mss. 219 and 223). An important unpublished account of the theory and practice of warfare in High Renaissance Italy, drawn on the first-hand experience of one of the Della Rovere family’s principal military advisers. Folio (320 × 220 mm). Manuscript on paper, 63 leaves, of which 53 are numbered, with an anchor-and-star watermark; 9 drawings of military formations, including 2 double-page illustrations, and an explanatory manuscript bifolium. Contents: one blank leaf; manuscript title on an applied card; one blank leaf; 3 leaves of dedication to Guidobaldo II; one leaf of preface; one leaf containing 39 rules for the conduct of battle; 51 leaves containing 91 theses; 4 final blank leaves. The 9 drawings are inserted hors texte; the first is accompanied by an unnumbered explanatory bifolium inserted between leaves 15 and 16. Uncut, with deckle edges preserved (waterstains on the upper and lower margins, without loss of text; minor marginal losses). Housed in a richly gilt sixteenth-century binding decorated with scrolls, the covers centred with the figure of a saintly archbishop, probably of Roman origin (minimal defects). Please contact the department for a detailed description of the contents. LEONARDI, Giovan Giacomo (1498–1562), a native of Pesaro, studied law at Bologna and Ferrara, graduating in 1522. He began his military career in the service of Francesco II Sforza (1495–1535), taking part in the defence and fortification of Pavia during the French siege of 1525. In 1528 he entered the service of Francesco Maria I Della Rovere (1490–1538), Duke of Urbino and Captain-General of the land forces of the Republic of Venice. As the Duke’s representative before the Collegio dei Savi, Leonardi reported on the progress of military operations and negotiated the financing of the army. His position between Venice and Urbino also made Leonardi an important cultural and artistic intermediary between the two courts. He maintained relations with Tommaso Diplovatazio (1468–1541), Sebastiano Serlio (c.1475–c.1554) and Pietro Bembo (1470–1547), and, according to Pietro Aretino, enjoyed a close friendship with Titian (c.1488/90–1576). In 1532 he commissioned from the painter a Head of Hannibal, a Christ and an Adoration of the Shepherds for the court of Urbino, and in 1538 was involved in the acquisition of the celebrated Venus of Urbino. In 1532, Leonardi submitted a plan for the fortification of Vicenza to the Venetian Republic and, during the same period, began writing the military treatises that were later collected under the title *Principe cavaliero*. Following the death of Francesco Maria I in 1538, he continued to serve his son Guidobaldo II Della Rovere, who appointed him Count of Montelabbate in 1540. The *Trattato di armi e artiglieria* (1540) and the *Cavaliero ambasciatore* (1542) date from this period; both are preserved in the Biblioteca Oliveriana. Leonardi once again secured the command of the Venetian forces for Guidobaldo in 1542 and 1546; when he failed to secure a further renewal of the Duke’s Venetian command in 1552, he followed him to Rome, where Guidobaldo had been appointed Captain-General of the Church. Eventually retiring to his fief of Montelabbate, Leonardi devoted his final years to preparing the *Principe cavaliero*. On 5 September 1561, Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy (1528–1580) granted him a licence for its publication, but the work was never published. Leonardi died in 1562 and was buried in the church of San Francesco in Pesaro. His descendants, known as the Leonardi Della Rovere, Counts of Montelabbate, continued to reside between the family castle and Palazzo Leonardi in Pesaro until the eighteenth century, when the relocation of one branch of the family to Moravia marked the beginning of the dispersal of the family’s estates. (1)
See original version (Italian)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS
Auction location
Auction time 10/15/2026 at 2:45 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like