The Mocking of the Prisoners
| Reference: | S32012 |
| Author | Giorgio GHISI detto "Il Mantovano" |
| Year: | 1534 ca. |
| Measures: | 567 x 430 mm |
€1,900.00
| Reference: | S32012 |
| Author | Giorgio GHISI detto "Il Mantovano" |
| Year: | 1534 ca. |
| Measures: | 567 x 430 mm |
€1,900.00
Description
Engraving, circa 1534-1545, signed on the plate, bottom center, "JULIUS ROMANUS INVENTOR / GEORGIUS MANTUANUS FECIT".
Second state, of three, added at bottom right the address "Nico Van Aelst formis Romae.1605 ". After Giulio Romano
A good impression, printed on two sheets of contemporary laid paper, joined, trimmed close to the platemark, in excellent condition.
The literary source for the image depicted in this print is Appian's Punic Wars (bk. vin, chap, ix, 66):
“White oxen came next, and after them elephants and the captive Carthaginian and Numidian chiefs ... a chorus of harpists and pipers. . . . One of these, in the middle of the procession, wearing a purple cloak reaching to the feet and golden bracelets and necklace, caused laughter by making various gesticulations, as though he were dancing in triumph over the enemy.”
Reproduces in reverse a drawing by Giulio Romano in the Louvre, inv. no. 3540, preparatory to the petit patron (cartone) sent to the weavers of the tapestries for Francis I. Depicing the life of the Roman general Scipio, these were commissioned in 1532 and woven by 1535 in Brussels. They consist of two series, thirteen tapestries representing The Deeds of Scipio and ten The Triumph of Scipio. Giulio Romano made the so-called petits patrons (the drawings used as models for the full- size cartoon from which the weavers would work) for the Triumph series. All ten of these still exist (nine in the Louvre and one at Chantilly).
In addition to Ghisi's engraving, only one other print of a scene from the Triumph series was made, by Fantuzzi at Fontainebleau, dated 1543.
This was Giorgio Ghisi's first large plate, not yet very satisfactory in draughtsmanship and technique. According to Boorsch, it seems unlikely, although not impossible, that Giorgio made it before 1534, when he was fourteen, the latest date at which the petits patrons would have been sent to Brussels. The print and the petit patron are, however, virtually the same size, and the print does reflect the quality of Giulio's hand. We suggest that the engraving could have been made not from the final petit patron, but from a drawing very similar to it that remained in Mantua when the petits patrons were sent to Brussels. Such drawings are known to have existed for other subjects in the series. It is also possible that the drawing was returned to Mantua after the tapestries were completed.
Bellini reports the work at the end of the first period Mantua or early next Roman period, 1546-47, where the artist would bring the design. He claims that that the plate was not printed in Mantua, as evidence the adjective "Mantuanus", which would been superfluous to add in their own hometown.
The plate is in the Calcografia Nazionale, in Rome, inv. 649.
Bibliografia
Bartsch, XV.68; Boorsch, p.41 n.4.ii; Bellini 1998 p.49 n.7.II.
Giorgio GHISI detto "Il Mantovano" (Mantova 1520 - 1582)
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Giorgio Ghisi or Chizi, or Ghizi, aka Mantovano, was born in Mantua in a family from Parma who lived in Mantua between 1515 and 1525. He died in the same city in 1582.
Giorgio was paiter, carver, “operatore all’azzimina” (he worked with jewels) and engraver. His first print bears the date 1543, although it is possible that he had already started his career as engraver even before, in the school of Giovanni Battista Scultori (1503 – 1575) and working with Giulio Romano who came to Mantua in 1524 to decorate Palazzo del Tè. Giorgio left Mantua after Giulio’s death, in 1546, and he went to Rome to meet his fellow citizen Pietro Faccetti, during the pontificate of Paul III (1534 – 1549).
At the age of thirty, between 1549 and 1550, Ghisi left Italy and went to Antwerp, the most important cultural city in Europe, for he had been invited by the publisher Hieronymus Cock.
From Antwerp he moved to Paris and there he published prints form Luca Penni and Giulio Romano bearing the King’s Privilege. He remained in Paris until 1560 approximately.
In 1578 he must have engraved his last plates; we know that from that point and till his death, he worked for Vincenzo Gonzaga as jewel designer.
Bartsch and Passavant had catalogued about 70 prints, while Hubert registered just 31; D’Arco lists 44 subjects and the Lewis’ 63.
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Giorgio GHISI detto "Il Mantovano" (Mantova 1520 - 1582)
|
Giorgio Ghisi or Chizi, or Ghizi, aka Mantovano, was born in Mantua in a family from Parma who lived in Mantua between 1515 and 1525. He died in the same city in 1582.
Giorgio was paiter, carver, “operatore all’azzimina” (he worked with jewels) and engraver. His first print bears the date 1543, although it is possible that he had already started his career as engraver even before, in the school of Giovanni Battista Scultori (1503 – 1575) and working with Giulio Romano who came to Mantua in 1524 to decorate Palazzo del Tè. Giorgio left Mantua after Giulio’s death, in 1546, and he went to Rome to meet his fellow citizen Pietro Faccetti, during the pontificate of Paul III (1534 – 1549).
At the age of thirty, between 1549 and 1550, Ghisi left Italy and went to Antwerp, the most important cultural city in Europe, for he had been invited by the publisher Hieronymus Cock.
From Antwerp he moved to Paris and there he published prints form Luca Penni and Giulio Romano bearing the King’s Privilege. He remained in Paris until 1560 approximately.
In 1578 he must have engraved his last plates; we know that from that point and till his death, he worked for Vincenzo Gonzaga as jewel designer.
Bartsch and Passavant had catalogued about 70 prints, while Hubert registered just 31; D’Arco lists 44 subjects and the Lewis’ 63.
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