Text-fig. 95. “Suber Primus” [Mattioli, Commentarii, 1565]. Reduced.
In point of time, the illustrations to the early editions of Mattioli’s Commentaries on the Six Books of Dioscorides follow fairly closely on those of Fuchs, but they are extremely different in style (Text-figs. [41], [42], [93], [94]). Details such as the veins and hairs of the leaves are often elaborately worked out, while shading is much used, a considerable mastery of parallel lines being shown. The general effect is occasionally somewhat flat and dull. Some of the drawings suggest that they may have been done from dried plants, and in others the treatment is over-crowded. But, in spite of these defects, they form a markedly individual contribution, which is of great importance in the history of botanical illustration.
Text-fig. 96. “Tragorchis” = Orchis hircina L., Lizard Orchis [Dodoens, Pemptades, 1583].
Numerous editions of Mattioli’s work appeared in various languages. In its earlier form the book had only small figures (e.g. Text-figs. [41], [42], [93], [94]), but in some later editions, notably that which appeared at Venice in
