y a learned essay on the famous troubadour Sordello, and an eloge on count de Firmian (1783). He was a liberal patron of the arts, and Mantua is indebted to him for
, a good Latin poet of
the sixteenth century, the second son of count Oderic,
privy counsellor to the emperor Maximilian, was born
Dec. 3, 1479, at Arco, a small town of the Tyrol, in the
diocese of Trente, and an ancient fief of his family. He
was at first page to the emperor Frederic III. the father
of Maximilian; but devoting himself much to study, acquired a critical knowledge of the ancient languages, and
spoke all the modern ones as easily as his own. He afterwards served in the army; but the death of his brother
having enabled him to succeed to his paternal estates, he
obtained leave to retire, and was afterwards in several public employments. Still the love of literature predominated,
and induced him to form an intimacy with Paul Jovius,
Annibal Caro, Flaminio, Fracastorius, and other eminent
men of his time. He is thought to have died about the
end of 1546. His poems were first published, at Mantua,
in 1546, 4to, under the title of “Nicolai Archii comitis
Numeri,
” a very rare edition, but reprinted by Comino,
with the poems of Fumano and Fracastorius, Padua, 1759,
2 vols. 4to. He wrote other works, which are yet in manuscript. One of his descendants, count Gumbattista
D'Arco, imperial intendant at Mantua, and a member of
the royal academy of that city, was also author of some
works in great estimation, particularly a learned essay on
the famous troubadour Sordello, and an eloge on count de
Firmian (1783). He was a liberal patron of the arts, and
Mantua is indebted to him for the fine original bust of
Virgil.
d plates of the greater part of the plants which the bishop of Aichstsedt, John Conrad de Gemmingen, a liberal patron, of the arts, had cultivated in his gardens and
, a botanist, who was born in 1561, at
Nuremberg, where he carried on the business of an apothecary, and died there in 1629, is entitled to notice chiefly
for having published the most beautiful botanical work that
had then appeared, the celebrated “Hortus Eystettensis,
”
Nuremberg, Phytobasanos
” of Columna, that were engraved on
copper, all botanical engravings being formerly on wood.
They are in general well designed, but do not point out
the parts of fructification, and are classed only according
to the seasons. Basil Besler had the care of this work, and
although he was deficient in literature, and was not even
acquainted with Latin, yet his zeal and love of the science
enabled him to perform his task with considerable skill.
Jerome Besler, his brother, a man of more learning, supplied the synonymy of the plants, and part of the descriptions, and Louis Jungermann, professor at Giessen, was
the author of the text. A second edition appeared at Nuremberg in 1640, at the expence of Marquard II. bishop
of Aichstaedt, in large folio, but is inferior to the first.
Basil Besler also collected a museum of many of the curiosities of the three kingdoms of nature, which he had engraven at his own expence, and published under the title
of “Fasciculus rariorum et aspectu digniorum, varii generis quae collegit et suis impensis aeri ad vivum incidi curavit Basilius Besler,
” Nuremberg,
, a liberal patron of the arts, and an honour to his country, was
, a liberal patron of the arts, and an
honour to his country, was born at Stanton in Shropshire,
Jan. 19, 1719. His grandfather was the rev. John Boydell, D. D. vicar of Ashbourne, and rector of Mapleton in
Derbyshire, whose son Josiah married Mary Milnes, eldest daughter of Samuel Milnes, esq. of Ash-house near
Turnditch, Derbyshire, Jan. 22, 1718. Dr. Boydell was
an excellent scholar, and for some time superintended the
education of his grandson, intending him for the church,
but dying in 1731, the youth was brought up by hisfatlver,
a land-surveyor, who very naturally intended him for his
own profession, and as a taste for drawing generally discovers itself very early, he might probably foresee great
advantages from his son’s possessing this talent. Fortunately, however, for young Boydell, and for the arts, a
trifling accident gave a more decided direction to his mind,
and led him to aim at higher efforts in the art than the
mere mechanism of ground-plans and outlines. This was
no other than the sight of a print by Toms, a very indifferent artist, of sir John Glynne’s seat and the old castle
attached to it, in “Baddeley’s Views of different Country
Seats.
” An exact delineation of a building that he had
so often contemplated, afforded him pleasure, and excited
some reflections which gave a new turn to his ambition.
Considering it as an engraving, and from the copper of
which might be taken an almost indefinite number of impressions, he determined to quit the pen, and take up
the graver, as an instrument which would enable him to
disseminate whatever work he could produce, in so much
wider a circle. This resolution was no sooner made, than
it was put in execution; for, with that spirit and perseverance which he manifested in every succeeding scene of
life, he, at twenty-one years of age, walked up to the
metropolis, and bound himself apprentice for seven years
to Mr. Toms, the engraver of the print which had so forcibly attracted his attention. These, and accidents equally
trifling, sometimes attract men of strong minds into the
path that leads direct to fame, and have been generally
considered as proving that they were born with some peculiar genius for some peculiar study. Sir J. Reynolds
had the first fondness for his art excited by the perusal of
“Richardson’s Treatise on Painting
” and Mr. Boydell
was induced to learn the art of engraving, by a coarse
print of a coarse artist, representing a mis-shapen gothic
castle.