Bottlenosed skate

The study of marine fauna is the theme for a codex (cod. ser. n. 2669) in the �sterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna. They are large format pictures on parchment, which capture the quickly fleeting range of forms of sea animals with unprecedented precision. The motivation behind their creation was probably the project of an illustrated edition of Dioscurides’ Materia medica, which Pietro Andrea Mattioli (1500-1577) pursued for a period of his life and for which he found in the person of Archduke Ferdinand II (1529-1595) a patron and sponsor.

Mattioli was an Italian physician and botanist who translated Dioscorides’ famous 1st-century herbal, Materia medica into Italian as Di Pedacio Dioscoride Anazarbeo libri cinque (1544), adding commentary to clarify and expand it with his own research observations. He gave very detailed descriptions of each genus of plant, illustrated with many delicately detailed woodcuts by Giorgio Liberale. As a textbook for pharmacology used during the next two centuries, with translations in many languages, it influenced the development of modern botany. The healing properties of each animal was the reason for their representation in Materia medica.

Though the artists and craftsmen of book illustration in the sixteenth century remain largely anonymous, Mattioli praised the work of his collaborators, enshrining their names in print. It was in Prague, where Mattioli was personal physician to Archduke Ferdinand, that he first collaborated with Giorgio Liberale, an Italian artist also at the imperial court. Liberale designed over 500 small woodcuts for the first Latin edition of Mattioli’s text, which was printed in Venice by Vincenzo Valgrisi (active 1545-1583). Liberale also designed nearly 600 large blocks that appeared in the later Prague edition of his text. The blocks were cut by Wolfgang Meyerpeck, a book printer and block cutter from Meissen who in 1550 received special permission to establish his own press independent of the University in Freiberg.

The pictures in the codex (cod. ser. n. 2669) are neither dated nor signed, they are attributed to Giorgio Liberale and they were probably created in 1558. Their connection with Materia medica is certain, as at least two pictures have been recognized as model for the woodcuts.

The present picture (fol. 32r) shows the bottlenosed skate. The grey-brown, white-spotted skate measures approximately 120 cm from the tip of its mouth to the end of its tail. Located directly behind the eyes and in slight protrusion are the blowholes. Behind the pectoral fins, at the base of the tail, are two large appendages, which indicate that this skate is a sexually mature male.