Machiavelli, Niccolò. Discourses on Livy. Translated by Harvey C. Mansfield and Nathan Tarcov. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
The Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy (Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio) was written primarily between 1513 and 1517, though it may not have been finalized until 1519. Despite its completion, the work was not published during Machiavelli’s lifetime.
Initial Printings
The first printed editions appeared posthumously in 1531, following a papal privilege granted by Clement VII. Two competing editions were released almost simultaneously:
Antonio Blado (Rome): Published on October 18, 1531.
The “Pseudo-1550” Printing: Most copies circulated in the early 17th century—the era of Thomas Hobbes—were actually printed in Geneva between 1610 and 1640.
The Name: It earned the nickname “Testina” (Small Head) because of the small woodcut portrait of Machiavelli on the title page, which was based on a portrait by Santi di Tito.
Significance: This edition was the first to collect all of Machiavelli’s major works, including the Discourses on Livy, The Prince, and The Art of War, into a single volume. This collected format is the version most likely found in the private libraries of English aristocrats like the Cavendish family during Hobbes’s tenure.
Museum/Location: The British Library, London (Holds several variants of the 1550 Testina, including the Geneva counterfeits).
Bertelli, Sergio, and Piero Innocenti. Bibliografia di Niccolò Machiavelli: Edizioni del XVI secolo. Verona: Valdonega, 1979. (The definitive source for identifying the five distinct “Testina” variants).
Woodruff, Douglas. Machiavelli. London: International Publishing Co., 1934. (Discusses the iconography of the “Testina” portrait).
Bernardo Giunta (Florence): Published on November 10, 1531.
Language and Translation
Italian: The original text was written in the Tuscan vernacular (Italian). This was the primary medium through which the work circulated in the 16th century.
Latin: While Machiavelli’s primary source, Livy, wrote in Latin, the Discourses themselves were not originally in Latin. However, Latin translations were produced later in the century to facilitate broader European academic circulation, most notably the translation by Johannes Nikolaus Stupanus published in Basel in 1588.
English: The first complete English translation of the Discourses (by Edward Dacres) was not published until 1636. By this time, Hobbes was already 48 years old and had likely formed his foundational political views.
On the featured image
Hamilton, Gavin. The Death of Lucretia. 1763–1767. Oil on canvas. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven.
Repository: Yale Center for British Art (New Haven, CT)
Accession Number: B1981.25.318
Museum Link: The Death of Lucretia – Yale Collections
Dimensions: $213.4 \times 264.2$ cm ($84 \times 104$ inches).
Subject: Based on Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita (Book 1), depicting the moment Brutus, Collatinus, and others swear an oath of vengeance over Lucretia’s body to overthrow the Roman monarchy.
Commission: Likely commissioned by James Hope-Johnstone (1741–1816), later 3rd Earl of Hopetoun, during his Grand Tour, or possibly his brother, Charles Hope, Lord Granton (1763–1851).
Collection History: Remained in the collection of the Earls of Hopetoun at Hopetoun House, Scotland, for over two centuries.
Acquisition: Acquired by Paul Mellon (the noted philanthropist and art collector) and subsequently gifted to the Yale Center for British Art as part of the Paul Mellon Collection in 1981.
Irwin, David. “Gavin Hamilton: Archaeologist, Painter and Dealer.” The Art Bulletin 44, no. 2 (1962): 87–102. https://doi.org/10.2307/3047996
Rosenblum, Robert. “Gavin Hamilton’s Brutus and Its Aftermath.” The Burlington Magazine 103, no. 694 (1961): 8–16.
Rosenblum, Robert. “A Source for David’s ‘Horatii’.” The Burlington Magazine 112, no. 806 (1970): 269–73.
Williams, Julia Lloyd. Gavin Hamilton, 1723-1798. Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland, 1994.
Cortona, Pietro da. Rape of the Sabines. 1627–1629. Oil on canvas. Musei Capitolini, Rome.
Repository: Capitoline Museums (Pinacoteca Capitolina), Rome.
Inventory Number: PC 137
Museum Link: Rape of the Sabines – Musei Capitolini
Commission: The painting was commissioned by the Sacchetti family, specifically Marcello Sacchetti, who was one of Pietro da Cortona’s earliest and most influential patrons in Rome.
Sacchetti Collection: It remained in the family’s prestigious collection for over a century. The Sacchetti were instrumental in introducing Cortona to the Barberini family (the family of Pope Urban VIII).
Acquisition: In 1748, the core of the Sacchetti collection, including this masterpiece, was purchased by Pope Benedict XIV. This acquisition formed the foundational nucleus of the Capitoline Picture Gallery (Pinacoteca Capitolina), where the painting has remained on public display ever since.
Briganti, Giuliano. Pietro da Cortona: o della pittura barocca. Florence: Sansoni, 1962. (The definitive catalogue raisonné for the artist).
Merz, Jörg Martin. Pietro da Cortona and Roman Baroque Architecture. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2008. (While focused on architecture, it provides essential context on the Sacchetti patronage and early paintings).
Wittkower, Rudolf. Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600-1750. 6th ed. Revised by Joseph Connors and Jennifer Montagu. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999.
Rice, Louise. “Pietro da Cortona and the Sacchetti.” The Burlington Magazine 141, no. 1150 (1999): 39–40.
