The Practice of the visual arts

The Practice of the visual arts; a workshop with a statue of Roma in the process of being carved and a painter standing on a platform and working on a fresco of a battle; a cadaver and skeleton are suspended and young boys draw them; an artist models a sculpture of a horse at centre; an engraver with a burin and copperplate and an architect sit at a table; labelled in the design "PICTURA", "STATUARIA", "Typorum æneorum / INCISORIA" etc;

Engraving, 1578, after a drawing by Jan van der Straet (Stradanus), now in the British Museum (inv. 5212-2), dated 1573.

Lettered on stool, lower centre: "Cornelius Cort fecit / 1578". At the bottom: "Ill.mo et Ex.mo Dno Iacobo Boncompagno Arcis Praefecto, ingeniorum ac industriae fautori, Artiu nobiliu. praxim, a Io Stradesi Belga artificiose expressa, Laureti Vaccarius D.D. Romae Anno 1578"

Example of the first state of two, with the imprint of Lorenzo Vaccari.

A very good impression, rich in tone, printed on contemporary laid paper with “anchor in a circle with star” trimmed to the platemark or with thin margin, very good condition.

The inscription "Cornelie Cort excu" on Stradanus's original drawing suggests that Cort probably intended to publish the engraving himself, which, however, was published in the year of his death by Lorenzo Vaccari. Heikamp (1972), supported the hypothesis that the print depicted an allegory of the “Accademia di San Luca” in Rome; according to Sellink, however, and this is the most widely accepted theory, the subject does not refer to a particular place but is rather to be seen as an allegorical representation of the Practice of the Arts. The work was a great success, as evidenced by the copies that were immediately made of it, starting from the one executed by Bartolomeo Mazza and published by Luca Bertelli in Venice around 1580. The second state of the Cort’s plate would be published by Carlo Losi in 1773.

“Among the 'noble arts', as they are described in the dedication inscription and which are shown being practiced here, copperplate engraving ('Typorum aeneorum INCISORIA') is given considerable prominence. Stradanus himself was interested in the possibilities of prints and made many designs specifically for printmakers. However he and Cort may have had some kind of partnership arrangement to produce this print and the emphasis could have been Cort's. The identifying inscription on the piece of paper on the table was added in the engraving, for in the drawing the paper bears a sketch of some kind, rather than lettering. Cort was presumably responsible for that alteration. The arts are clearly identified as Roman: a figure of Roma is prominent in the centre, being carved by a sculptor with a hammer and chisel. Below her is the river god of the Tiber with the wolf suckling Romulus and Remus. Apart from engraving, there are people practicing architecture, sculpture, casting (FUSORIA), and painting. The study of anatomy occupies a group on the left. There are also a number of young people identified as learning the art of painting (Tyrones picturae) who are shown drawing. Several of them are studying the skeleton and one is drawing bones. Another on the extreme right holds a pen, but his paper is blank; in Stradanus' drawing he is shown drawing a series of eyes. The dedication is to Giacomo Boncompagni, who is described as Prefect of the Castel Sant’Angelo. He was appointed to that post in 1572, immediately following the election of his father as Pope Gregory XIII. In April 1573 he was appointed to the more important position of Governor General of the Church, at which point it is unlikely that he would have been addressed by the lesser title. This means that the plate was most probably executed in 1573, at the same time as Stradanus' original drawing.

Vaccari acquired the plate and published it in 1578. There is evidence of there having been significant erasures and changes in the area of the dedication. It is possible that the final digit of the date 1578, on the stool, has been altered from a 3. However no examples of a 1573 printing have survived, so either none were produced and the plate remained unused until 1578, or alternatively all impressions of the earlier state have perished. As Sellink pointed out, the inscription in reverse on the drawing: "IO STRADENSIS FLANDRVS IN 1573 CORNELIE CORT EXCV." implies that Cort intended to have it printed himself. If Cort failed to set up adequate arrangements for distribution, he may have issued only a very few impressions, notably those that he would have sent to Boncompagni. It may easily be imagined that they have all been lost.

As the plate does not appear in the inventory of Cort's possessions after his death, it may be that he had already sold it to Vaccari. He was producing work for the Roman print dealer up to the time of his death in 1578, as is made clear in the inventory, where the unfinished Battle of Constantine is explicitly described as 'incise ad instantiam Laurentii Vacarii” (cf. Michael Bury, The Print in Italy 1550-1620, n. 3).

A fine example of this important works on paper.

Bibliografia

The New Hollstein: Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts 1450-1700 (210.I); Bierens de Haan, L'oeuvre gravé de Cornelis Cort, graveur hollandais 1533-1578 (218); A. Baroni Vannucci, Jan van der Straet, detto Giovanni Stradano, flandrus pictor et inventor (772); Susan Dackerman, Prints and the Pursuit of Knowledge in Early Modern Europe, n.50; A. Baroni and M. Sellink, 'Stradanus 1523-1605: Court artist of the Medici', pp. 227-228, n. 21; Le Blanc, III, p. 150; Michael Bury, 'The Print in Italy 1550-1620', BM, n. 3).