The Feather Book of Dionisio Minaggio - title page

Title page of The Feather Book, a series of pictures made entirely of bird feathers. The creator was Dionisio Minaggio, the Chief Gardener of the Duchy of Milan. The book primarily contained images of birds indigenous to the Lombardy region of Italy but also contained sets of images depicting hunters, tradesmen, musicians and commedia dell'arte characters. The bird depicted here is the female Blue Rock Thrush (Monticola solitarius).