Collection de cent figures, dessinées et gravées par Mme Giacomelli pour orner la Divine Comédie du Dante
The volume contains 100 engravings made to illustrate the Comedy by Sophie Giacomelli, also known as Sophie Janinet and Madame Chomel, née Geneviève Sophie Billé. Painter, sculptor, and singer, Giacomelli participated at the Salon of Paris in 1799 (Renouvier and de Montaiglon 1996, 1, 251). This edition consists of illustrated tables accompanied by the excerpt of the Comedy represented, in no more than two verses. Dante’s text is quoted in Italian.
As the frontispiece underlines, the publication is made to accompany the French translation of the Comedy realized by Alexis-François Artaud de Montor (1772-1849) and published between 1811 and 1813 at Treuttel & Würtz, Smith and Schoel and, finally, Blaise. The prose translation by Artaud, which was a remarkable success and underwent some authorial reviews and countless republications, remains as faithful as possible to the text (Piva 2009, 274).
The copy held by the Université de Montréal does not have any information to reconstruct the stages of its journey to Quebec.
Full title: Collection de cent figures, dessinées et gravées par Mme Giacomelli ; pour orner la Divine Comédie du Dante, traduite en français par M. Artaud, censeur impérial, et membre de plusieurs sociétés savantes ; précédée d’une explication de chaque sujet, et de renvois aux pages avec lesquelles ils correspondent dans les trois volumes, avec un portrait du Dante d’après J. Stradan.
Author: Dante Alighieri (1265-1321, author), Sofia Giacomelli (1779-1819, illustrator).
Content: Comedy.
Date of publication: 1813.
Place of publication: Paris, France.
Publisher: Blaise et Pichard.
Language: French, Italian.
Physical description: 315 x 235 mm. 99 illustrated tables, plus frontispiece and table of contents. Leather and paper half-binding.
Call number: Université de Montréal, Bibliothèque des livres rares et collections spéciales, Collection générale, PQ 4329 G53 1813.
Catalogue: https://umontreal.on.worldcat.org/oclc/489710827
History of the copy: the available information does not allow the access date of the volume in the patrimony of the Université de Montréal to be determined.
Notes: on the back of the first endpaper, a writing in pencil says “Sofia Giacomelli, pseud. de Mme Chomel, 99 planches complète + page de titre”.
Bibliography
Piva, Franco. 2009. « La (ri)scoperta di Dante in Francia tra secolo dei Lumi e primo Ottocento », Studi Francesi, 53, p. 264-277.
Renouvier, Jules and Anatole de Montaiglon. 1863. Histoire de l’art pendant la Révolution considérée principalement dans les estampes, 2 vol. Paris: Renouard.
Author and date of the record: Alessio Marziali Peretti, 26/07/2021.
English translation: Brittany Buscio.
