An original matted, illustration of the Goddess Venus from the 1678 edition of Robert Whitcombe's "Janua Divorum: or the Live and Histories of the Heathen Gods, Goddesses, & Demi-Gods"
London: Francis Kirkman, 1678. Second Edition. An original illustration from the second Edition of Robert Whitcombe's "Janua Divorum: or the Live and Histories of the Heathen Gods, Goddesses, & Demi-Gods" (1678). The illustration, which has been cropped, is approximately 5 1/2 inches x 3 1/4 inches and shows a rather Rubenesque Venus, seated in a cloud arising from the sea. The illustration is mounted in a modern cream-coloured acid-free mount (outer size is 10 x 8 inches), with foam backing board, ready for framing. The mat is fine - as new. The size (10 x 8 inches) is a standard US frame size, and ready made frames into which it can be inserted are widely available. There is a small chip, a little larger than a pinhead, in the left inner margin, and the illustration is somewhat darkened, moreso to the left hand side. Scarce. Whitcombe's "Janua Divorum," was first published in 1677, and was sufficiently popular that a second edition was published the following year. Despite this copies of both early editions are genuinely rare. This illustration is guaranteed from the original 1678 edition, and is thus over 300 years old, and comes with a certificate of authenticity.
Aside from her ancient position as a goddess in Roman and Hellenistic religion, folk-lore has long associated Diana with witchcraft: in his "Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches" Charles Godfrey Leland told of Italian witch cults which featured Diana as Queen of the Witches. The illustration is mounted in a modern cream-coloured acid-free mount (outer size is 10 x 8 inches), with foam backing board, ready for framing. The mat is fine - as new. The size (10 x 8 inches) is a standard US frame size, and ready made frames into which it can be inserted are widely available. There is a chip, slightly smaller than a cigarette butt, missing from the upper left margin of the illustration and the left half is somewhat darkened. Scarce. Whitcombe's "Janua Divorum," was first published in 1677, and was sufficiently popular that a second edition was published the following year. Despite this copies of both early editions are genuinely rare. This illustration is guaranteed from the original 1678 edition, and is thus over 300 years old, and comes with a certificate of authenticity. Item #66860
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