Letter from Gian Vincenzo Fossa, Antwerp, to Bartolomeo Corsini, London [manuscript] : signed manuscript, 1597 September 4 and 11.

Antwerp, 1597 September 4 and 11.

1 item ; 34 x 23 cm (bifolium)

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Belgium.

X.c.223

From dealer's description: "Antwerp, 4 & 11 September 1597. Letter signed, ink on paper, in Italian. Folio (23 x 33cm) [3] pages on bifolium, verso of second leaf with manuscript address panel, uncut, old folds, very good. This letter dated 11 September 1597 was sent by Gian Vincenzo Fossa in Antwerp, writing to London with a lengthy update for the prominent merchant Bartolomeo Corsini (1545-1613) concerning his mercantile transactions in the cloth market. Mention is made of a deal involving “Zegher van dyck” – Siger/Cesar van Dyck being a portrait painter resident in Antwerp who in 1598 became a pupil of the Flemish painter Adam van Noort (1561-1641), one of the teachers of Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). Several English merchants are named, among them “Tomaso preston” and “capitan Gio cockse.” Fossa includes financial details of transactions concerning fustian cloth with merchants in Cremona and Hamburg, also observations on the state of the market, noting that fashion for the wearing of silks should lead to a fall in the price of fustian. Mention is made of difficulties arising from the 1597 decree issued under Spanish pressure by Rudolph II (1552-1612) that led to the explusion of the English Merchant Adventurers from the Holy Roman Empire, resulting in a reciprocal ban by Elizabeth I (1533-1603) forbidding Hanseatic merchants from trading in England. Provenance: from the Corsini archive (Christies Robson Lowe 4 September 1984)." Ordered from Samuel Gedge, D9208, 2018-05-22, catalog 26, item 5. Adopted by Katherine Neville and William Woodward, Acquisitions Night 2019.

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