Family Tree. DESBOIS - CALINUS. Opus Genealogicum … Nobilissimo Genuensium Spinolarum Sanguine.

DESBOIS, Martial - CALINUS, Dominicus Franciscus. Opus Genealogicum … Nobilissimo Genuensium Spinolarum Sanguine.

1667

Copper engraving on laid paper with watermark. Platemark of 305×410 mm. Margins. Top centre: Crown of Leopold I, Emperor of the Romans; centre: on the left, Coat of Arms of Catalonia; on the right, Coat of Arms of the Spinola family. At the bottom: on the left, coat of arms with the inscription ‘Andronicus Senior Imp. Bizantini … 1332’; on the right, cartouche with title, author’s name and date. Below on the right, engraver’s signature “MDesbois fec.” Slight marginal stain; otherwise a fine copy.

Extremely rare broadsheet. A spectacular and detailed family tree of the most noble Genoese Spinola family, originally from Catalonia, compiled by the librarian of the Elector of Bavaria, drawing also on the genealogical studies of Elias Reusner. The tree spans from 1317 to 1671, with detailed records of marriages to the most eminent European noble houses. 

Martial Desbois, Paris 1630-1700, a French engraver, worked almost exclusively in Italy, particularly in Genoa, Venice and Padua. Here he contributed to the illustrations for the ‘Lyceum Patavinum’, one of the most important works by the French physician and numismatist Charles Patin, who resided in Padua.