Author:
Title: Antique book illustration, woodcut | The story of Seleuco and Antioco, published 1484, 1 p.
Description: Page from the fifth book of the Parisian first edition of Boccaccio's De Casibus Virorum Illustrium, published by Jean Dupré (fl. 1481-1488) in 1484.[...] Antioco, son of King Seleuco of Syria, falls in love with Stratonica, Seleuco’s new wife and thus Antioco’s step-mother. Antioco attempts to hide his love, knowing that it is inappropriate, and sinks into a decline that the physicians called to see him are unable to remedy. Finally, a doctor named Filippo, a friend of the King, realises that the source of Antioco’s illness is love, and further discovers that the object of this love is Stratonica. He goes to the King and first tests him by saying that it is Filippo’s own wife with whom Antioco is in love. The King asks Filippo to give up his wife for the life of Antioco, saying that he would himself give up Stratonica to save his son. Filippo then reveals that it is in fact Stratonica whom Antioco loves, and the King willingly divorces his wife and has her marry his son. Antioco regains his health, Stratonica eventually gives birth to a number of children, and the King, overjoyed with the result, continues to give thanks to the wise Filippo.[...] (Anna Strowe, (2018). Narrative cohesion through text and material: texts, co-texts and the manuscript tradition surrounding Leonardo Bruni’s Seleuco. Italian Studies, 74(1), 10-28.)Antieke houtsnede uit 1484. MIddeleeuwen. Middle Ages. Woodcut on paper, with text, incunabula. Total: 320 x 226 mm; mounted on fine cardboard passepartout, in good condition.

Keywords: Book history|Book illustrations|Early printings|Landscapes|Literature & Philosophy|Love|Old Master Prints|Woodcut