The drawings

The Brotherton Ovid

Learn about the remarkable Brotherton Collection copy of the works of Ovid, printed in Parma in 1477. Discover who owned the books, and who might have added the hundreds of marginal annotations and colourful illustrations.

Incunabula – the first European printed books

Notes on incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds.

The Brotherton Ovid

Notes on the unique aspects of three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

Condition and binding

Notes on the condition and binding of three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

Provenance - who owned the books?

Notes on three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477. FInd out more about the provenance of the books.

Dietrich von Plieningen

Dietrich von Plieningen was a former owner of three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

Leonhard von Eck

Leonhard von Eck was a former owner of three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

Oswald von Eck

Oswald von Eck was a was a former owner of one of the items held at Special Collections at Leeds University, a three volume set of the works of Ovid printed in Parma in 1477. He added the numerous annotations and drawings that appear in the margins.

Georg Franz Burkhard Kloss

Georg Franz Burkhard Kloss was a former owner of three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

William Horatio Crawford

William Horatio Crawford was a former owner of three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

Edward Allen Brotherton

Edward Allen Brotherton acquired one of the most remarkable items held at Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. This set of three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) contains the works of the Roman poet Ovid. The books were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

Brotherton Ovid cutting with illustrations

Other individuals associated with the books

People associated wtih the copy of the works of Ovid printed in Parma in 1477 and held at Special Collections at the University of Leeds.

Sebastian Linck

Sebastian Linck is associated with three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

Philipp Melanchthon

Philipp Melanchthon is associated with three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

Samuel Leigh Sotheby

Samuel Leigh Sotheby is associated with three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

J. Alexander Symington

J. Alexander Symington is associated with three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

Ovid the poet

The works of Ovid

Notes on the works of Ovid. Part of a digital resource on three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477.

Medieval and Renaissance reception

Part of a digital resource on three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477. Learn more about the reception of Ovid's works in the medieval and Renaissance periods.

The annotations

Heroides

Amores

Art of Love and Cures for Love

Fasti

Brotherton Ovid drawings - Callisto and Arcas

The drawings

Notes on the visual marginalia in three incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) kept in Special Collections in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The books contain the works of the Roman poet Ovid and were printed by Stephanus Coralllus in Parma in 1477. Discover more about the drawings that accompany the printed text.

List of illustrations to the Fasti

[Opera] Volume 1

View a high-resolution digitised version of the first volume of Ovid's Opera, held in Special Collections at Leeds University Library.

[Opera] Volume 2

View a high-resolution digitised version of the first volume of Ovid's Opera, held in Special Collections at Leeds University Library.

[Opera] Volume 3

View a high-resolution digitised version of the first volume of Ovid's Opera, held in Special Collections at Leeds University Library.

The Fasti attracted the attention of visual artists during the Renaissance. Artworks inspired by it were not as numerous as those drawing on Metamorphoses, but the Fasti did provide part of the inspiration for Botticelli's Primavera, one of the most famous paintings of the Renaissance.

The painting is in part a response to Ovid's tale of the rape of the nymph Chloris by the wind god Zephyr and her subsequent transformation into Flora, goddess of Spring.

The mythological elements of the Fasti were most likely to be taken up by visual artists. Likewise, in our edition many of the illustrations accompany mythological stories.

The story (3.737-60) that inspired Piero di Cosimo's The Discovery of Honey by Bacchus also prompted our annotator to draw a depiction of this scene in the margin of sig. D4r.

The illustrations for the most part correspond very closely to the text. For example at sig.A5r where the illustrator has drawn an ancient coin showing Janus on one face and a ship on the other. This closely follows the description in the text.

There are occasional divergences from the text in the illustrations: at sig.B3v an illustration shows the nymph Callisto, transformed into a bear, almost being killed by her son. While Ovid's text says his weapon was a javelin or dart (iaculum), the illustration shows a bow and arrow.

Another illustration shows Lucius Junius Brutus, founder of the Roman Republic, kissing 'Mother Earth' in order to fulfil the oracle's prediction that: 'He who shall first have kissed his mother will be victorious'.

Ovid's description in the text of Brutus as 'wise, but pretending to be a fool' resonated with the annotator – fools and the wisdom of folly were very much an obsession of the arts of Northern Europe in his time.

He depicts Brutus in a contemporary fool's costume, with the characteristic cap and bells while the other figures in the drawing, Tarquin's sons, are also in contemporary dress. Similar examples of contemporary dress can be found throughout: see, for example, the illustration at sig.H3r, Tullia driving a chariot over her father Servius Tullius.

Dr Paul White