Woman with Compasses – Allegory of Geometry
| Reference: | S41821 |
| Author | Battista ANGOLO del Moro |
| Year: | 1570 ca. |
| Measures: | 132 x 182 mm |
| Reference: | S41821 |
| Author | Battista ANGOLO del Moro |
| Year: | 1570 ca. |
| Measures: | 132 x 182 mm |
Description
Etching, 1570 circa, unlettered.
A fine impression, printed with tone on contemporary laid paper, trimmed to the platemark, traces of glue on the back, otherwise perfect condition.
The etching is listed by Bartsch among the works of Giovanni Battista Fontana. Mullaly, on the other hand, assigns it to Battista del Moro, noting that this Woman with Compasses can be directly associated with two other engravings: an apparently undescribed etching of an Allegorical Female Figure, and A Sibyl (Bartsch, 31), also correctly attributed to Angolo del Moro by Bartsch. Mullaly notes that the three engravings are very similar to each other - as well as in style (the handling of the landscape and sky and the foliage, the use of line and the cross hatching etc.) - also in size, suggesting that they constituted a set.
The presence of the compass suggests that the figure is an allegorical representation of Geometry, one of seven liberal arts. Geometry usually holds a compass and may also have a set-square and ruler.
Battista del Moro (1514 – 1574) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period active in his native Verona, as well as in Mantua and Venice. This artist is referred to by various names including Battista D’Agnolo Veronese by Filippo Baldinucci and Giorgio Vasari, or by Battista Angolo del Moro, (commonly called Angeli, and occasionally Angelo and Agnolo). He was a scholar of Francesco Torbido, called Il Moro, whose daughter he married, and whose name he added to his own. He improved his style by studying the works of Titian, and painted several pictures, both in oil and fresco, for the churches at Verona, and sometimes in competition with Paolo Veronese. In Sant'Euphemia he had painted a fresco of 'Paul before Ananias,' which, on the demolition of the wall on which it was painted, was sawn out with great care, and removed to another part of the church. His colouring is more vigorous than that of his instructor, and his design more graceful. Such is his picture in San Stefano of 'An Angel presenting the Palms of Martyrdom to the Innocents'. He also painted much in Venice, Mantua, and Murano. We have several slight but spirited etchings by this master, in which the extremities of the figures are drawn in a very masterly style. In conjunction with Battista Vicentino, he engraved a set of fifty landscapes, mostly after Titian, which are executed in a bold, free style. He labored in Mantua under Giovanni Battista Bertani.
Extremely rare work.
At the lower left corner we find a collection mark - a caudoceus or interlaced IS letters - which is not described in the Lugt.
Bibliografia
Bartsch, 16, 58; TIB, 32, p. 375.; T. Mullaly, Battista del Moro in Perspective, in Print Quarterly, IV, 1987, 4, pp. 406 -407.
Battista ANGOLO del Moro (Attivo a Verona e Venezia nella seconda metà del XVI secolo)
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Battista dell’Angolo married the daughter of Francesco Torbido (called il Moro) and added her family nickname to his surname. Battista practised as a decorative fresco painter in the Veneto in the second half of the 16th century and was the first of an important group of etchers active in and around Verona and Venice at that time. His Mannerist style was perpetuated by his sons (2) Marco dell’Angolo del Moro and (3) Giulio dell’Angolo del Moro. Marco also followed in his father’s footsteps as an etcher, whereas Giulio was active also as a sculptor. Battista dell’Angolo (b Verona, c. 1515; d ?Verona, 1573 or after). Painter, draughtsman and etcher. He was trained by his father-in-law, whose decorative painting style was much influenced by the work of Titian and Giulio Romano. Much of Battista’s paintings, on the façades of churches and palazzi in the Marches, has been lost (due to the damp and salty coastal environment), but the recently restored façade of the Palazzo Pindemonti, Verona, reveals his talents as a fresco painter. There are other surviving paintings by Battista in the churches of S Eufemia (Paul before Ananias), S Stefano (An Angel Presenting the Palms of Martyrdom to the Innocents) and S Fermo Maggiore, all in Verona, and also in the Mantua Cathedral. In 1557 Battista, assisted by his son Marco, painted fresco decorations in the Palazzo Treviso at Murano, where Veronese was also active.
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Battista ANGOLO del Moro (Attivo a Verona e Venezia nella seconda metà del XVI secolo)
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Battista dell’Angolo married the daughter of Francesco Torbido (called il Moro) and added her family nickname to his surname. Battista practised as a decorative fresco painter in the Veneto in the second half of the 16th century and was the first of an important group of etchers active in and around Verona and Venice at that time. His Mannerist style was perpetuated by his sons (2) Marco dell’Angolo del Moro and (3) Giulio dell’Angolo del Moro. Marco also followed in his father’s footsteps as an etcher, whereas Giulio was active also as a sculptor. Battista dell’Angolo (b Verona, c. 1515; d ?Verona, 1573 or after). Painter, draughtsman and etcher. He was trained by his father-in-law, whose decorative painting style was much influenced by the work of Titian and Giulio Romano. Much of Battista’s paintings, on the façades of churches and palazzi in the Marches, has been lost (due to the damp and salty coastal environment), but the recently restored façade of the Palazzo Pindemonti, Verona, reveals his talents as a fresco painter. There are other surviving paintings by Battista in the churches of S Eufemia (Paul before Ananias), S Stefano (An Angel Presenting the Palms of Martyrdom to the Innocents) and S Fermo Maggiore, all in Verona, and also in the Mantua Cathedral. In 1557 Battista, assisted by his son Marco, painted fresco decorations in the Palazzo Treviso at Murano, where Veronese was also active.
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