B[aratta], A[lessandro] and N[icolas] P[errey], artists. – Giovanni Battista Castaldo [Pescara], author.

[UNDER PENALTY: NAPLES' LEADING ENGRAVER, THE COUNTER-REFORMATION, AND THE SACK OF ROME] Vita beati Caietani Thienaei ordinis clericorum regular. fu[n]datoris a. P. D. Ioanne Baptista Castaldo clerico regulari olim edita nunc eiusdem opera imaginibus expressa [The Life of Blessed Cajetan of Thiene, founder of the Order of Regular Clerics, formerly published by Fr. Giovanni Battista Castaldo, Regular Cleric, and now, through his efforts, represented in images]. 

Verona: [n.p., but presumably printed in Naples by Alessandro Baratta] 1619. Quarto (26.6 × 21 cm). Contemporary limp vellum with gilt fillet borders and gilt ornaments to boards and spine; engraved title page and 50 copper engravings by Alessandro Baratta and Nicolas Perrey. Vellum somewhat warped and stained; remnants of the closing ties; leaves occasionally with light foxing, mostly outside the plates; one leaf with marginal loss outside the image; else very good, the engravings in very clear, strong impressions. Item #55781

Rare first edition of a series of fifty engravings produced by Alessandro Baratta and Nicolas Perrey, created over two years in close collaboration with the author. The Theatine theologian Giovanni Battista Castaldo Pescara had previously published, in a considerably more modest graphic form, the life of Cajetan of Thiene – co-founder of the Theatine Order – in Modena in 1612 and in Rome in 1616. In contrast to these text editions, however, this series of engravings constitutes an independent work, in which the text appears only in the form of small engraved captions. Alessandro Baratta, today best known for his perspective view of Naples composed of sixteen folio sheets ("Fidelissimae urbis neapolitanae"), had by this time already established a reputation as a copper engraver at the court of the Spanish Viceroy in Naples. For a panegyric dedicated to the Viceroy Pedro Fernández de Castro (a patron of Miguel de Cervantes), Baratta produced in 1616 the title page, the map of the province of Terra di Lavoro, the view of the main façade of the Royal Palace of Naples, as well as the floor plan and exterior views of the Royal University building. Already during his Roman apprenticeship (1606–1612), he had produced a portrait of the Neapolitan naturalist Fabio Colonna for the work "Minus cognitarum stirpium," printed by Guglielmo Facciotti, whose copper engravings of plants, fossils, and animals were in all likelihood also executed by the then twenty-three-year-old. After returning to Naples, Baratta worked not only for Colonna and the court, but also accepted numerous commissions from the Theatine Order, with this series of engravings representing the most extensive project he undertook for the reform order. The work did, however, initially bring the engraver a formal charge before the Archiepiscopal Court in Naples. (On this and what follows, see: Paola Carla Verde, L'iconografia asservita al potere: L'opera e i committenti dell'incisore e topografo Alessandro Baratta alla corte vicereale di Napoli nella prima metà del XVII secolo, in: Librosdelacorte.es, year 8 (2016), no. 13, pp. 105–139).

Baratta was charged with having failed to obtain a printing license from Decio Carafa, the Archbishop of Naples. Under the censorship regulations then in force, he would have been required to secure the approval of the local ecclesiastical authorities in advance, in his capacity as the owner of the printing plates, as printer, and as engraver. At first instance, he was not only sentenced to a fine of 100 ducats but was additionally prohibited from practicing his profession for one year. In his defense, Baratta argued that the author, Giovanni Battista Castaldo, had assured him that the printing license had been obtained in Verona, and that the book was to be printed not in Naples but in Rome. For his own part, he maintained that he had at all times pulled only a proof impression for personal use. The penalty was subsequently reduced to 30 ducats. Yet the series of engravings brought Baratta not only inconveniences but new commissions as well. By 1622 he had produced a cycle of sixty-four copper engravings on the life of the miracle-worker Francis of Paola, which was first published in Palermo and then in 1627 in Naples under the title "La vita e miracoli del Gloriosissimo Padre Santo Francesco di Paola." While Baratta is regarded above all as one of the most important copper engravers in Naples on account of his topographical works, his numerous commissions from various ecclesiastical patrons were also important constituent elements of post-Tridentine, Counter-Reformatory image politics. Merely ten years after the printing of the present series of engravings, its protagonist, Cajetan of Thiene, was beatified by Urban VIII; his canonization followed in 1671 under Clement X.

Cajetan of Thiene (1480–1547) co-founded the Theatine Order (Congregation of Clerics Regular) in 1524 together with the Bishop of Chieti and later Pope Paul IV, Gian Pietro Carafa (1476–1559). Alongside the Jesuits (Ignatius of Loyola) and the Oratorians (Philip Neri), the Theatines became one of the most significant forces of the Counter-Reformation. Among the things that distinguished the Theatines from these two orders was the policy of Gian Pietro Carafa, of whom the following remark has been transmitted: "If my father were a heretic, I would gather the wood to burn him." As head of the newly established Roman Inquisition, Carafa is said to have even ordered that the sermons of the Jesuit founder Ignatius of Loyola be examined for orthodoxy. The Theatines were regarded at this time as a faction within the Roman Church that advocated for a rigorous inquisition. The order's rule itself provided for the investigation of heresy in every form. (Cf. Klaus Ganzer, Einflüsse der Reformbewegungen innerhalb des italienischen Mönchtums, in: Die frühe Reformation in Deutschland als Umbruch, Gütersloh 1998, pp. 92–102).

Furthermore, the priestly order founded in Rome was distinguished from the Jesuits and the Oratorians by a strict vow of poverty that prohibited not only property and fixed income but even begging. Baratta's series of engravings vividly illustrates, in dramatic chiaroscuro indebted to Caravaggio's Roman paintings, the ideal toward which Cajetan sought to conform: the self-mortifying founder before the altar resembles the type of the penitent St. Jerome. A further model was Francis of Assisi. At the same time, the Theatines placed great emphasis on liturgy, preaching, and confession. Another domain of activity, which Baratta likewise stages in effective chiaroscuro, is the care of the poor, the dying, and the sick – including those afflicted by the plague. In keeping with the aim of the founder's canonization, it is above all miraculous healings that are presented to the viewer in such a vivid and theatrical manner. The events of the Sack of Rome also occupy a central position in the pictorial narrative. While the Pope had retreated to the Castel Sant'Angelo, the Theatines attempted to assist the Roman population – subjected to rape, torture, pillaging, and arson – by tending to the wounded and the dying. The two co-founders were taken captive by the mercenaries and brutally mistreated. Following their liberation, the Theatines fled to Venice, where they continued their work. Cajetan, however, relocated to Naples in order to establish the order there as well. When he died there in 1547, two Theatine monasteries existed – one in Venice and one in Naples. Cajetan was interred in the church of S. Paolo Maggiore. When Carafa ascended to the papal throne in 1555, the Theatines reestablished themselves in Rome. Initially, S. Silvestro on the Quirinal served as their base; later, the Theatines erected the magnificent church of Sant'Andrea della Valle, not far from the Jesuit mother church of Il Gesù. By the end of the sixteenth century, the order had houses in nearly all the major cities of Italy and Sicily, with Naples – home to six monasteries – remaining its most important location. In the seventeenth century, it also spread to France, Germany, Spain, and Portugal. (Max Heimbucher, Die Orden und Kongregationen der katholischen Kirche, vol. II, Paderborn 1934, pp. 97–106.)

As of June 2026, KVK, OCLC show only two copies worldwide, at Rome and Paris, with none located in North America.

Price: €4,800.00

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