Bidspirit auctions | Finarte Auction Apr 16, 2025

Finarte, Apr 16, 2025. 225 lots, estimates 40 - 4500 €.


Finarte -

Genoa, Liguria and Corsica are the perimeters that delimit the scope of this collection, the result of the passion of a Genoese man deeply in love with his land. Love, passion and collecting, however, are purely cognitive activities, where aesthetic pleasure can never be separated from that for study, knowledge and philological analysis. In this sense, this collection stands as a diachronic survey of the development of the image of Genoa and the Genovesato over the centuries, starting from the first essential printed representations of the late fifteenth century to the more secure and mature cartography of the late sixteenth and especially the mid-seventeenth centuries: an accurate investigation aimed at capturing the creation of a dynamic representation of the territory over time, rich in constantly evolving details. The number of maps, the accuracy of the drawing and the beauty of the engravings that have come down to us testify to the importance of Liguria and Genoa throughout the centuries. The cartographic aspect is combined with the aesthetic passion for one's city in the extensive section devoted to the image of Genoa over the centuries, an image that ranges from fascinating bird's-eye views taken from the sea to the more specific and analytical images of its famous monuments and palaces. A digression, but not too much, is that represented by the prints and maps depicting Corsica, in the eyes of the Genoese always a natural offshoot of Genovesato.


Of Corsica here are presented some of the oldest and rarest representations of the island, seen in horizontal and vertical orientation, suspended between Liguria and Sardinia as if to ideally join territories that also represent historically a unicum.


The catalog consists of more than 350 prints divided into 225 lots, starting from the 15th century until the 19th century. Many of them are of extreme rarity and great beauty because of the refinement of the engraving, the richness of detail and the vivid period coloring. 


Lots in this catalog (225)