El Macabeo, Poema Heroico. ["The Maccabee": Heroic Poem in octavos or eight-line stanzas]
AUCTION 50 |
Thursday, February 24th,
2011 at 1:00
Fine Judaica: Hebrew Printed Books, Manuscripts, Graphic & Ceremonial Art Including: The Alfonso Cassuto Collection of Iberian Art
Lot 339
SILVEIRA, MIGUEL DE.
El Macabeo, Poema Heroico. ["The Maccabee": Heroic Poem in octavos or eight-line stanzas]
Naples: Egidio Longo 1638
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
PRICE REALIZED $3,250
Miguel de Silveyra was born in Beira, studied philosophy, jurisprudence, medicine and mathematics in Coimbra and Salamanca. Silveyra, a relative of the great classical scholar Thomas de Pinedo (see lot 335), was Royal mathematician and later Royal physician to the House of Castile. However in 1634, he was denounced to the Inquisition and subsequently fled Madrid for Naples. Aged sixty, he published El Macabeo, upon which he labored for twenty-two years. The twenty books of this epic poem relate the events of Judah Maccabee up to the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem. Although to modern taste a bit bombastic, El Macabeo enjoyed wide popularity for centuries, going through several editions and translation into Italian. Silveyra died in Naples in 1638. See EJ, Vol. XIV, cols.1546-47