Description
Cm. 112 x 82.5, manuscript on paper laid down on linen with green tissue outline.
Comments:
Large manuscript genealogical tree of noble Marsi(g)li family from Bologna. Family’s origin dates to early XIII century, first mentioned in 1207 and part of the city “elderly council” since mid-century. They acquired the Senator rank in 1483, becoming earls and marchis during the XVII century. Emperor Carl V granted the family the privilege to bear the imperial eagle in the family coat of arms. Scientist like Cesare Marsigli exchanged numerous letters with Galileo Galilei while Lugi Ferdinando (b. 1658) was military engineer and general for the imperial army, fighintg for long years against the Ottoman, taken captive and randsomed al least twice. Once back to Italy he founded the Bologna Institute of Science (1712) and wrote the Histoire phisique de la mer (1725), considered as the first treaty on Oceanography and antedating Matthew Fontaine Maury by almost 150 years.
