Over the past few months I have been fortunate enough to spend more time in the F. Ambrose Clark Rare Book Room digging into the collection for research and tours. One of my favorite pieces to show on tour is a commemorative hunting book called La Venaria Reale, Palazzo Di Piacere, e di Caccia, Ideato Dall'Altezza Reale di Carlo Emanuel II Duca di Savoia, Re di Cipro Disegnato, e descritto dal Conte Amedeo di Castellamononte L'Anno 1672. The title translates to "The Royal Venaria, Palace of Pleasure and Hunting Conceived by the Royal Carlo Emmanuel II Duke of Savoy and King of Cyprus, drawn and described by Court Architect Amedeo di Castellamonte in the Year 1672.

The first title page with the title engraved on stag skin and two hunting hounds, in the background you can see a hunt going on in the forest

The calf bound book with gold tooling was privately printed in Torino by Bartolomeo LaPatta in 1674 as a memento to the guests of a hunting part five by the Duke and Duchess of Savoy at La Venaria Reale, their hunting palace. To our knowledge only 19 first editions were printed for the guests of the hunting party that occurred on premises in 1672.

Second engraved title page. Below you can see the publisher information. If you look closely you can see hounds, anglers, and boars artistically rendered with looping lines. The angel at the top of the page is holding up antlers on its head and the lines above it resemble a heart.

The book details the events of the hunt and includes two engraved title pages, a portrait frontispiece, 20 full page plates, 30 double page plates, and 12 folding plates by the artist Giorgio Tasnière. Many of the engravings were after paintings done by Jan Miel in the interior of the palace.

The palace, which stands today and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, is one of the largest palaces in the world. The palace covered 80,000 square meters of floor surface in the Reggia, 60 hectares of gardens, and 3,000 hectares in the modern day Park o Lan Mandria.

Partenza della Corte per la caccia da Venaria Reale, or "The Court's Departure for the hunt from The Venaria Reale" c. 1665. Melchior Hamers (Flemish, 1638-1709/10). Collection of La Venaria Reale.

The main palace building is seen in the background, adorned by a sculpture of a stag, illustrating the Duke and Duchess's passion for stag-hunting

The court architect, and author of the book, Amedeo di Castellamonte details the grounds in a large folded out map and highlights the vast fountains and gardens in over 30 engravings.

The large fold-out map of the palace grounds

The palace was commissioned by Duke Carlo Emanuele II of Savoy and Duchess Maria Giovanna Battista of Savoy Newmours, who wanted a hunting palace. The name itself is symbolic of their passion for hunting with the Latin work Venatio regia meaning "royal hunt." The palace has some of the finest examples of universal Baroque including the Hall of Diana, which the Duchess of Savoy was fond of. The palace and grounds included extensive planned gardens, and fountains.

  • The palace grounds featured ponds stocked for fishing
  • In the center of the woods, a stag hunt is taking place

Fascinatingly, the map key is written in the same visual perspective as the map

You can see in the frontispiece portrait of the Duchess of Savoy from the book that she models herself after the Goddess Diana.

Valerie Peacock recently completed her MA in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester in England and earned her BA in History with a Minor in Professional Education from the University of West Florida. She previously worked as the Programs Assistant at the Gaston County Museum of Art and History and as the Curator of Education at the Pensacola Museum of Art. 

When not working, Valerie enjoys spending her free time reading, hiking, or exploring new places and museums.

She can be reached at VPeacock@NationalSporting.org.