Ninfae cuiusdam dormientis simulacrum (Ariadne sleeping)

The statue of Ariadne sleeping was acquired by Pope Julius II (1503-1513) in 1512 for the Courtyard of Statues (Cortile delle Statue) where it was adapted in order to decorate a fountain. After being moved several times, it was finally placed where you see it now in 1779 and the painter Cristoforo Unterperger painted the background of the niche with Egyptian motifs, now covered over with a red wash. Because the statue has a bracelet in the form of a serpent, it was believed to be of Cleopatra, who killed herself with the bite of an asp. It was Ennio Quirino Visconti who finally recognised the statue as being of Ariadne at the end of the 1700s. Ariadne was the daughter of King Minos of Crete who, after having helped Theseus overcome the Minotaur and escape the Labyrinth, was abandoned by the ungrateful man as she lay sleeping on the island of Naxos; she was re-awakened by the arrival of Dionysus, who married her. The sculpture is a copy of a 2nd century B.C. original from the school of Pergamon and had some other replicas in Roman times.

Plate taken from the Antiquarum statuarum urbis Romae...Io. Baptista de Cavalleris authore, the first systematic collection of illustrations of ancient sculptures preserved in Roman collections, which is due to the work of the engraver and draftsman Giovanni Battista Cavalieri (1525 circa - 1601) in the second half of the 16th century.

The repertory, a point of reference for antiquarian studies, was widely circulated and contributed to direct the interest of scholars of the time towards ancient statuary.

The number of plates, about 50 in the first editions (datable to about 1561/62) was subsequently enlarged; before 1584 books I and II were published with 100 numbered engravings of sculptures, organized according to the collections they belonged to. In 1594 come to the light of the III and IV volume of the work, in which appeared other 100 new tables, this time ordered according to the iconography of the subjects. The sculptures are depicted on neutral backgrounds, without architectural references.

The work, with the title Antiquarum statuarum Urbis Romae primus, undated, was first dedicated to Ottone Truchsess von Walburg - first as deacon of S. Maria in Trastevere (1561/62) and then as cardinal of Albano (1562/70). Later, with the title Antiquarum statuarum Urbis Romae primus et secundus liber, the frontispiece is dedicated to Cardinal Ludovico Madruzzo, and can be dated 1584/85.

In 1594, with the title Antiquarum Statuarum Urbis Romae tertius et quartus liber, one hundred new plates were published with a dedication to Cardinal G. Paluzzi degli Albertoni, dated June 1593. Please note that, while in the first two books the statues were published according to collections, in the third and fourth are grouped by subject. The collection contains, in addition to the engravings of Giovanni Battista Cavalieri some plates signed by Cherubino Alberti, Orazio de Santis and other famous engravers of the time.

Giovanni Battista de Cavalieri or Cavalleris was an engraver, printer and publisher. Born in Villa Lagarina, near Trento, is active in Venice (since 1559) and Rome, where in 1577 opened a workshop in the Parione district. He resided in the alley of Palazzo Savelli, with a studio near the house. He became brother-in-law of the famous publisher Lorenzo Vaccari. He made plates for Antonio Salamanca, Antonio Lafreri and Bartolomeo Faleti. He began to publish his works around 1560, but always in partnership with others: in 1567 with Perino Zecchini and in 1576 with Lorenzo Vaccari. In 1577 he hired a printer, Francesco Cornuti, publishing works by his contemporaries, including Francesco Salviati, Daniele da Volterra, Raphael, Michelangelo, Polidoro da Caravaggio, Livio Agresti and Baccio Bandinelli.

Engraving, printed on contemporary laid paper, in excellent condition.

Bibliografia

Thomas Ashby, Antiquae Statuae urbis Romae, in Papers of the British School at Rome, IX (1920), pp. 109-158; S. Weber, Artisti trentini ed artisti che operarono nel Trentino, Trento 1933, pp. 72 ss.