DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52600#0176
130 BENEDETTO MONTAGNA
Risen Saviour (No. 12) has a great general resemblance
to Mocetto’s St. John the Baptist (Gal. 5).
Sometimes again Benedetto shows an imitation of
Giulio Campagnola’s peculiar technique, aiming at
soft effects by a multitude of graver flicks ; as cases in
point we may quote the Rape of Europa (No. 31) and the
Youth with Arrow (No. 21). The latter recalls also
in type Giulio’s Shepherd (Gal. 8), and Benedetto’s
charming little engraving with the same title (No. 47)
might well be inspired by Campagnola’s pastoral
subjects.
A very rich mine for Benedetto’s assimilative genius
were the wood-cuts in the Venetian edition of Ovid’s
Metamorphoses in Italian, dating from 1497.1 His
series of scenes from the Metamorphoses (Nos. 30-36)
abounds with borrowings from the corresponding
illustrations ;2 while the St. George (No. 8) and also
the Youth with Arrow (No. 21) seem inspired by the
wood-cut of Apollo having killed the Python.3
No fully authenticated engraving by Benedetto is
inscribed with a date. To establish a chronology of
his engraved work we must rely entirely upon the
internal evidence of the single pieces. This being the
case we cannot arrive at any very great minuteness
of chronological classification but must content our-
selves with rather rough divisions. Often it is possible
to distinguish among Benedetto’s oeuvre, groups which
are artistically well coherent within themselves and
1 Ovidio metamorphoseos vulgare . . . Stampato in Venetia per Zoane
rosso vercellese ad instantia del nobile homo miser Lucantonio Zonta fioren-
tino delM.CCCCLXXXXVII . . . Fol. The woodcuts were reprinted
in several subsequent editions.
2 Cf. Mercury and Aglauros, p. xviii r°. ; The Rape of Europa,
p. xix v°.; Apollo and Vulcan, p. xxviii r°. ; Apollo and Marsyas
p. xlix v°. ; Apollo and Cyparissus, p. Ixxxv v°. ; The Birth of
Adonis, p. Ixxxix r° ; Apollo and Pan, p. xciii. r°.
3 This illustration is on p. vi bis r° .
Risen Saviour (No. 12) has a great general resemblance
to Mocetto’s St. John the Baptist (Gal. 5).
Sometimes again Benedetto shows an imitation of
Giulio Campagnola’s peculiar technique, aiming at
soft effects by a multitude of graver flicks ; as cases in
point we may quote the Rape of Europa (No. 31) and the
Youth with Arrow (No. 21). The latter recalls also
in type Giulio’s Shepherd (Gal. 8), and Benedetto’s
charming little engraving with the same title (No. 47)
might well be inspired by Campagnola’s pastoral
subjects.
A very rich mine for Benedetto’s assimilative genius
were the wood-cuts in the Venetian edition of Ovid’s
Metamorphoses in Italian, dating from 1497.1 His
series of scenes from the Metamorphoses (Nos. 30-36)
abounds with borrowings from the corresponding
illustrations ;2 while the St. George (No. 8) and also
the Youth with Arrow (No. 21) seem inspired by the
wood-cut of Apollo having killed the Python.3
No fully authenticated engraving by Benedetto is
inscribed with a date. To establish a chronology of
his engraved work we must rely entirely upon the
internal evidence of the single pieces. This being the
case we cannot arrive at any very great minuteness
of chronological classification but must content our-
selves with rather rough divisions. Often it is possible
to distinguish among Benedetto’s oeuvre, groups which
are artistically well coherent within themselves and
1 Ovidio metamorphoseos vulgare . . . Stampato in Venetia per Zoane
rosso vercellese ad instantia del nobile homo miser Lucantonio Zonta fioren-
tino delM.CCCCLXXXXVII . . . Fol. The woodcuts were reprinted
in several subsequent editions.
2 Cf. Mercury and Aglauros, p. xviii r°. ; The Rape of Europa,
p. xix v°.; Apollo and Vulcan, p. xxviii r°. ; Apollo and Marsyas
p. xlix v°. ; Apollo and Cyparissus, p. Ixxxv v°. ; The Birth of
Adonis, p. Ixxxix r° ; Apollo and Pan, p. xciii. r°.
3 This illustration is on p. vi bis r° .