Makers and Consumers

Abstract

Simone Verovio, the man were rarely, if ever, recorded. 176 Although engraving, printing and publishing were clearly defined tasks, they were sometimes carried out by the same people. As mentioned before, by the second half of the sixteenth century, it had become usual in figurative art for the roles of designer/artist and that of engraver to be carried out by different people, but in map making this was not always the case. Cartographers like Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594) engraved their own maps, but separate engravers, paid at a higher rate, were usually engaged to incise the more prestigious letter engraving. 177 It appears that some of the Verovio publications were written by a single scribe, but most seem to show the hand of multiple scribes. It is difficult to discern how many people were involved in engraving the plates. Verovio was an accomplished engraver, but the presence of his name as engraver does not imply that he engraved everything. Likewise, the fact that he is mentioned as writer in a publication does not necessarily imply, that he had no assistance in writing the texts or the music. However, it probably implies that he had ultimate control over that aspect of the publication. Simone Verovio, the manFrom Casimiri's research, 178 we know that Verovio came to Rome in the jubilee year 1575. The reason why he came to Rome will probably remain unknown. Foreigners coming to Italy usually Italianized their name ; as Bertolotti pointed out, it is frequently impossible to deduce the original Dutch name from the Italianized version. 179 In 1882 van der Straeten suggested the name Weerevick, but this has yet to be corroborated. 180 Verovio is described as 'Boscoducensis', that is, a native of 's-Hertogenbosch (or Den Bosch) in the Duchy of Brabant. Den Bosch housed one of the oldest Latin schools in the Netherlands, the groote school or schola major, reputed as one of the best in Northern Europe. Amongst the students of this school, run by the Brethren of the Common Life, were Gerard Mercator 181 and probably also Hieronymus Bosch and Desiderius Erasmus.