Gherardo Cibo, also known by the alias of Ulisse Severini da Cingoli (1512 − 30 January 1600), was an artist and a herbalist from Italy. The herbarium that he began in 1532 is the oldest surviving example of the method invented in Italy by his contemporaries and is preserved in Rome. His illustrations of plants show plants in the foreground with landscapes and details of people and places in the background. Cibo was born in Genoa in 1512 to Aranino and Bianca Vigeri Della Rovere (daughter of the bishop of Senigallia) in a wealthy family related to the Duke of Urbino. His paternal great-grandfather was Giovanni Battista Cibo better known as

Pope Innocent VIII Pope Innocent VIII (; ; 1432 – 25 July 1492), born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1484 to his death, in July 1492. Son of the viceroy of Naples, Cybo spent his ea ...

. After some early years in Genoa he moved to Rome where he stayed with his aunt, the Duchess of Camerino, Caterina Cibo da Varano and sought to join the clergy but war led to his movement to Bologna where he studied botany under

Luca Ghini Luca Ghini ( Casalfiumanese, 1490 – Bologna, 4 May 1556) was an Italian physician and botanist, notable as the creator of the first recorded herbarium, as well as the first botanical garden in Europe. Biography Ghini was born in Casalfiumanese ...

. His studies during this period ending in 1532 included the collection of plants and the creation of a herbarium. In 1534 he moved to Agnano and stayed with Lorenzo Cibo where he made trips around Pisa. In 1539 he visited Germany and travelled to Marches, Umbria and moved to Rome in 1553. He spent the largest part of his life in Arcevia. Cibo left diaries of his daily trips, illustrations of the landscapes. He studied the works of Pliny,

Leonhart Fuchs Leonhart Fuchs (; 17 January 1501 – 10 May 1566), sometimes spelled Leonhard Fuchs and cited in Latin as ''Leonhartus Fuchsius'', was a German physician and botanist. His chief notability is as the author of a large book about plants and thei ...

and Pierandrea Mattioli. He corresponded with Mattioli and

Ulisse Aldrovandi Ulisse Aldrovandi (11 September 1522 – 4 May 1605) was an Italian naturalist, the moving force behind Bologna's botanical garden, one of the first in Europe. Carl Linnaeus and the comte de Buffon reckoned him the father of natural history stud ...

and Andrea Bacci. He maintained his herbarium in alphabetical order. The letters and collections are scattered across museums and archives. Books in his library that have survived at the Biblioteca Angelica include ''Historia Stirpium'' by Leonhart Fuchs, a copy of the ''Historia dei semplici'' by Garcia da Orta as well as 1548, 1558 and 1573 editions of ''Discorsi'' by Mattioli with illustrations added by Cibo. The most important part of his artistic production is the corpus of landscape drawings done in pen and ink or sanguine, and his botanical illustrations in watercolour and tempera. Over 220 botanical illustrations can be found in two illuminated manuscripts kept in the British Library (Add. Ms. 22332 and Add. Ms. 22333). Cibo’s illustrations are executed with great accuracy and feature different plants, usually common species of Italy and the central Apennines. They are often placed against the brightly coloured landscapes of their natural habitat, sometimes with scenes of daily life and details of buildings. The illustrations are accompanied by botanical commentaries excerpted from ''Discorsi'' by Pietro Andrea Mattioli (glossed Italian translation of

Dioscorides Pedanius Dioscorides (, ; 40–90 AD), "the father of pharmacognosy", was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of (in the original , , both meaning "On Materia medica, Medical Material") , a 5-volume Greek encyclopedic phar ...

’ ''

De materia medica (Latin name for the Greek work , , both meaning "On Medical Material") is a pharmacopoeia of medicinal plants and the medicines that can be obtained from them. The five-volume work was written between 50 and 70 CE by Pedanius Dioscorides, ...

'') and notes by Cibo himself.

References

Bibliography

External links

Sample Herbarium sheet

British Library images

Contribuzioni alla storia della botanica by Otto Penzig (1905) - an index to the herbaria of Cibo

(Add. Ms. 22332) published by M. Moleiro Editor. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cibo, Gherardo 1512 births 1600 deaths 16th-century Italian botanists Pre-Linnaean botanists 16th-century Italian artists Scientists from the Republic of Genoa Artists from the Republic of Genoa