Tesauro - Patriarchae - 1645

Patriarchs, Heraldry, and Royal Blood: The Genealogy of Christ as Architecture of Power
An opus conceived as a true symbolic architecture of sacred history and power, the Patriarchae sive Christi Salvatoris Genealogia translates in images and texts the entire lineage of Christ, from the biblical patriarchs to the kings and princes of the world. In a refined balance between theology, heraldry, emblematics, and Baroque political culture, the volume offers a genealogical reading of the universal order, where the line of divine blood becomes the legitimizing foundation of temporal authority. The engraving apparatus, of the highest quality, makes the work one of the most fascinating examples of seventeenth-century Italian symbolic book.
Market value
In the international market, complete copies generally range between 700 and 1,000 euros, with higher prices in the case of well-preserved contemporaneous bindings and fresh engravings; specimens with an intact engraved frontispiece and without invasive restorations to the plates are among the most sought after by collectors of emblem books, sacred history, and Baroque political iconography.

Physical description and condition
Contemporary binding in full parchment, spine with raised bands and title in gold on a plaque. Blind impressions on both boards: at the center of the front board and the rear board is stamped a devotional Christological monogram within an ornamental cartouche, accompanied by coordinated angular fleurons, produced with the same tools. Typographic title page and engraved title page, numerous full-page engravings within elaborate architectural and allegorical frames, decorative initials. The copy shows some browning, foxing. As with all ancient books, with a centuries-long history, small imperfections may be present that are not always noted in the description. Pp. 14 nn; 224; (2).

Full title and author
Patriarchs, or the Genealogy of Christ the Savior.
Mediolanum, at Bidellius, 1645.
Emanuele Tesauro.

Context and Significance
This work fits fully into the heart of European Baroque culture, where genealogy is not merely a scholarly exercise but a political, theological, and symbolic instrument. Tesauro builds a true “machine of meaning,” in which the lineage of Christ becomes the interpretive key to universal history. The allegorical figures, coats of arms, incised architectures, and Latin mottos contribute to transforming the book into an atlas of legitimate power: the genealogical Christ is at once the foundation of salvation and the paradigm of sovereign authority. The work engages directly with the tradition of moral and political emblem, standing alongside the great symbolic repertoires of the Italian Seicento."

Biography of the Author
Emanuele Tesauro (1592–1675), a Jesuit, writer and theorist of the Baroque, is one of the central figures of the symbolic culture of the Seicento. Famous above all for the Cannocchiale Aristotelico, he was a master of the art of wit, of allegory and of metaphor, applied not only to literature but also to theology, politics and history. The Genealogy of Christ represents one of the highest outcomes of his worldview, conceived as a system of signs and correspondences.

Printing history and circulation
Printed in Milan in the first half of the seventeenth century, the work experienced a selective circulation, intended for an educated audience of ecclesiastics, nobles, and scholars of heraldry and sacred history. The complexity of the engraved apparatus and the specialized nature of the content limited its diffusion, contributing today to the relative rarity of complete copies on the market.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Brunet, The Bookseller's Manual.
Praz, Studies in Seventeenth-Century Imagery.
De Backer – Sommervogel, Library of the Society of Jesus.
ICCU – inventories and bibliographic descriptions.