The Archers

Naked archers shooting at a target attached to a herm, Cupid sleeping below, possibly an allegory related to vice

Engraving, circa 1540/45, signed lower left 'MICH . ANG . BONAROTI. INV.".

Example in the second state of five, which sees the finishing of the lower right corner where the address AnT. Lafrerij Romæ.

The engraving reproduces in counterpart and with variants the original drawing by Michelangelo now in the Royal Collections at Windsor Castle (RL 12778).

Part of the literature, rightly in our opinion, attributes the authorship of this engraving to Nicolas Beatrizet of Lorraine. An assumption rejected by Alessia Alberti in her recent publication on Michelangelo's printed works (2015). Disagreeing with the attributive considerations and recognizing Beatrizet as the author of the work, we quote the beautiful description provided by Alberti: 

In the face of a broad and multifaceted fortune through drawing copies, The Archers do not seem to have met with the interest of engravers and print publishers in the 16th century, as only one plate with this subject is known at present. As to the reasons for this apparent misfortune, at the moment we can only identify as possible directions for future and more in-depth investigations the fact that the original belonged to an owner who was perhaps more jealous of the tribute sheet, or that the publisher enjoyed some kind of privilege. That the reason might lie in the complexity of the subject is perhaps a clue in the intervention by which the engraver provided the archers with tools. Reported by Vasari as «molte cose cavate da Michelagnolo a requisizzione d'Antonio Lanferri» (VASARI 1568, «i Saettatori») and later cited in Lafrery's Index (“Arceri di Mich. Ang.”) the print met with moderate public success during the French publisher's period of activity, since of the numerous examples that have come down to us, most of them came from his presses (the later editions can be identified by the presence of Paolo Graziani's address, affixed when the copperplate was purchased from Lafrery's heir, Stefano Duchet, in 1581). On the other hand, Vasari's assertion that the engraving was made "a requisition", i.e. at Lafrery's precise request, cannot be proved, since at least one state prior of his name on the plate is known. The author of the engraving has yet to be identified. Heinrich von Heinecken reported in 1768 that Beatrizet's name had been given for it and it was thus treated, albeit dubiously, in the De Angelis edition of Gori Gandellini  and by Passavant, the first to assign the title Les Vices tirant à la cible. Overlooked in the catalogues of the Lorraine painter edited by Robert-Dumesnil and Linzeler, the work was doubtfully recovered by Stefania Massari (Tra mito e Allegoria, 1989) and finally included in the catalogue of Beatrizet edited by Silvia Bianchi. The attribution is very unconvincing (even BARNES 2010 p. 65, catalogues it as anonymous), especially since this is an engraver with a particular technique, a late imitator of Marcantonio Raimondi, who turns the flesh tones into long uninterrupted curved strokes, making minimal use of sfumato through dotted marks. But it is above all the geometric rigour of the shadows drawn with the ruler, with rhomboid meshes that in some cases, as in the leg raised in the centre, become almost square, that is the trait on which to work in order to identify the personality of this painter in the ranks of anonymous artists working in Rome in the fifth decade of the 16th century. Overall, it reveals a special attention to light, well contrasted, used as a tool to define forms, even if, compared to the Michelangelo drawing, the nocturnal setting is accentuated. Common traits to the lexicon of Enea Vico are evident.

For a definition of its chronology, Girolamo Siciolante's fresco from the Casino Olgiati, datable to around 1544-1545, can be usefully taken as terminus ante quem (HUNTER, 1996, p. 136, no. 15). Lafrery's engraving must also have conveyed Michelangelo's invention beyond national borders as the figure of the archer in the foreground is recognized, with minimal variations and in counterpart, in that of Perso freeing Andromeda in the already mentioned cycle of tapestries entitled Poesia, woven in Brussels by Pieter Coecke van Aelst by 1556, when an example was purchased by Philip II.

However, no confirmation was found of the existence of the woodcut mentioned by Richard Duppa where the head of the term would be a portrait of Michelangelo: 'but I have been informed by M. Cosway, that there is extant an earlier print, engraved in wood, with the head of the Terminus representing Michel Angelo's own portrait; if this be not an addition of the engraver, it would seem to imply an intention in the design to allude to the enemies and calumniators of his fame and it is well known that the subject of S. Sebastian has been more than once adopted by other painters to gratify a similar feeling. (cf. Alberti A. D'après Michelangelo, pp. 215-219).

Magnificent proof, printed with tone on contemporary laid virgin paper with watermark "six-pointed star in a lozenge; in a circle with four other smaller stars" (Woodward no. 151 - found on works dated mid-15th century - Briquet 6098), with margins, slight printing creases in the white side margins, otherwise in very good condition.

Bibliografia

Alberti A. D'après Michelangelo, p. 144, n. 245 II/V; VASARI, ed. 1966-1987, V (1984), p. 20; LAFRERY, Indice, c. 5r; HEINECKEN, 1768-1769, I (1768), p. 408, n. 20; HEINECKEN, 1778-1790, II (1788), p. 279; HUBER, 1801-1810, II-I (1803), p. 625, n. 2822; GANDELLINI, DE ANGELIS, 1808-1816, VI (1809), p. 164, n. VII; PASSAVANT, 1860-1864, VI (1864), p. 120, n. 116; PASSERINI, 1875, p. 165; THODE, 1908-1913, II (1908), p. 366; BIANCHI, 2003b, p. 7, n. 37; BARNES, 2010, p. 197, n. 89.