Villamena - S. Francesco - 1594

SPLENDIDLY ILLUSTRATED FIFTEENTH-CIFERS: THE MIRACLES AND THE HISTORY OF ST. FRANCIS
Fontespizio engraved, 49 copperplate plates illustrating scenes from the life of Saint Francis
Published in Rome in 1594, the Historia di San Francisco cum iconibus in aere excusis constitutes one of the most refined examples of devotional figurative book production in the late Counter-Reformation era. Through a sequence of engravings dedicated to the principal episodes of Saint Francis’s life, the work transforms the saint’s biography into a true visual meditation, intended for both private devotion and public celebration of the Franciscan ideal. The images by Francesco Villamena, one of the most important engravers in late 16th-century Rome, blend theatrical Mannerism, narrative precision, and intense spirituality, building an iconographic path that emphasizes miracles, demonic temptations, voluntary poverty, and the mystical dimension of the Saint of Assisi. In the cultural climate of post-Tridentine Rome, such illustrated cycles had not merely an ornamental function: they were pedagogical tools, emotional devices, and means of religious propaganda. This small volume of engravings thus takes on the character of a “breviary for images,” capable of rendering the Franciscan model of sainthood immediately visible.
MARKET VALUE
The Roman late-16th-century Franciscan figurative series, especially complete with the plates and preserved in antique or antiquarian bindings, are highly sought after in the market for religious illustrated books and Italian Mannerist engraving. Complete copies of Villamena’s plates can fetch between €2,500 and €6,000, with higher values for well-preserved copies, generously margined, or with important provenance.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION - COLLECTOR'S COPY
Later binding in full stiff parchment with manuscript decorations to the spine. Includes 1 engraved title page, 49 copperplates depicting scenes from Saint Francis’s life, and a dedication leaf bound at the end. Architectural engraved title page with Mannerist decorative elements. The plates illustrate hagiographic episodes, miracles, visions and homilies of the saint. Pages show browning and physiological foxing, with some dampstains on the last leaves. In old books with a long history, a few imperfections may be present and not listed in the description. Pp. (2); 102; (2).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
S. Francisci historia cum iconibus in aere excusis.
Rome, excudebat Andreas de Puttis, 1594.
Villamena, Francesco.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The work belongs to the extraordinary period of Roman religious illustration publishing that flourished after the Council of Trent, when sacred image became an essential instrument of instruction and spiritual persuasion. In this context, Saint Francis assumes a central role: a saint of poverty, humility, and mystical ecstasy, presented as the perfect model of devotion and spiritual discipline. Villamena’s engravings stand out for their dynamic composition and narrative capacity, evident especially in the more dramatic scenes, where the urban landscape, atmospheric effects, and demonic presences contribute to a strong emotional impact. Some plates show a figurative language still indebted to Roman Mannerism, while others already anticipate more theatrical and Baroque sensibilities. The volume also fits into the tradition of emblem books and illustrated lives of saints, conceived to be read and meditated upon simultaneously through text and image.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Francesco Villamena (Assisi, 1564 – Rome, 1624) was one of the leading Italian engravers active at the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th. Probably trained in Rome, he worked for important publishers and artists of the papal capital, distinguishing himself for the technical quality of his engravings and for the ability to translate complex pictorial compositions into print. He produced frontispieces, religious cycles, devotional images, and illustrative works tied to post-Tridentine Catholic propaganda. His engravings helped disseminate a visually strong, narrative, and theatrical language typical of Counter-Reformation Rome.

BIOGRAPHY OF SAINT FRANCIS
Saint Francis of Assisi (1181/1182–1226) is one of the most influential spiritual figures of medieval Christianity. Founder of the Order of the Friars Minor, he promoted a radical ideal of evangelical poverty, universal brotherhood, and imitation of Christ. Famous for preaching to the humble, for his mystical rapport with nature, and for receiving the stigmata, he quickly became one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic Church. His iconography spread exceptionally from the 13th century onward and continued in the following centuries as a symbol of asceticism, ecstasy, and spiritual struggle.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The figurative collections dedicated to Saint Francis’s life enjoyed wide diffusion in late-16th-century Rome, aided by ecclesiastical patronage and the interest of Franciscan convents. The 1594 edition printed by Andreas de Puttis testifies to the central role of Roman publishing in developing new visual tools for devotion. The combination of concise text and engraved images made these volumes particularly effective for private meditation and religious instruction. Complete sets of the plates are today relatively scarce on the antiquarian market.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Bartsch, Le Peintre Graveur, XVII, pp. 91-95.
Nagler, Neues allgemeines Künstler-Lexicon, XXI, pp. 398-401.
Thieme-Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler, XXXIV, pp. 410-411.
Benezit, Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs, XIV, pp. 256-257.
ICCU/OPAC SBN, record related to the Roman edition of 1594.
Edit16, CNCE related to Andreas de Puttis editions.
British Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings, Villamena cards.
The Illustrated Bartsch, Italian Masters of the Sixteenth Century.
Berlin Kupferstichkabinett, iconographic Francescani repertories of the 16th century.
BnF – Département des Estampes et de la Photographie, Villamena catalogs.