Discorso sopra la mirabil : opera di basso rilievo di cera stuccata con colori scolpita in pietra negra
A 1590 Italian treatise printed in Rome by Francesco Coattino, written by Giacomo Vivio dell'Aquila for an educated readership interested in Renaissance sculpture and papal patronage, describing a wax bas-relief. The pictures are woodcut initial letters, mostly large capitals framed by scrolling acanthus and grotesque figures, including winged demons and fanciful beasts. A designer might take from them the idea of a historiated initial built from interlaced foliage and monstrous creatures.
