DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42861#0106
74
ENGRAVED GEMS
Francesco, now in the Louvre, deserve the high
praise which the Marchioness bestowed upon his
work. It was the same with Anichino, another
Ferrarese jeweller, who spent most of his time in
Venice and engraved gems in the most perfect style.
“Fortunate are those,” sang a contemporary poet,
“ who are endowed with the genius of Anichino, for
over them Time and Death have no power.” “ I will
not fail,” wrote Zorzo Brognolo to his mistress in 1492,
“to urge Anichino to serve Your Highness quickly,
but he is a very capricious and eccentric man, and it
is necessary to hold him tight if you mean to get
work out of him ! ” As usual Isabella had to bide
the artist’s pleasure and wait many weary months
before her turquoise was returned engraved with a
Victory. But when it came it was so beautifully
worked that she forgot her displeasure and sent
Anichino another gem to be engraved with a figure
of Orpheus, telling him with many flattering words
that he might be as slow as he liked, as long as the
work came so near to antique art. This time, however,
she owned to Brognolo that she was not altogether
satisfied, but did not dare tell the artist her opinion
for fear of exciting his wrath. “ I know,” she adds,
“the man is the best master in Italy, but unfor-
tunately he is not always in the right mood.”1
This fine taste and quickness to recognise true
excellence naturally attracted the best artists into
Isabella’s service. She might be hasty and im-
petuous in her orders; she often grumbled at the
cost of pictures and gems, tried to beat down the
price, and was undoubtedly difficult to please, but
1 Gruyer, L’ Art Ferrarais a I’epoque des Princes d’Este, vol. i.
pp. 575, 714, &c.
ENGRAVED GEMS
Francesco, now in the Louvre, deserve the high
praise which the Marchioness bestowed upon his
work. It was the same with Anichino, another
Ferrarese jeweller, who spent most of his time in
Venice and engraved gems in the most perfect style.
“Fortunate are those,” sang a contemporary poet,
“ who are endowed with the genius of Anichino, for
over them Time and Death have no power.” “ I will
not fail,” wrote Zorzo Brognolo to his mistress in 1492,
“to urge Anichino to serve Your Highness quickly,
but he is a very capricious and eccentric man, and it
is necessary to hold him tight if you mean to get
work out of him ! ” As usual Isabella had to bide
the artist’s pleasure and wait many weary months
before her turquoise was returned engraved with a
Victory. But when it came it was so beautifully
worked that she forgot her displeasure and sent
Anichino another gem to be engraved with a figure
of Orpheus, telling him with many flattering words
that he might be as slow as he liked, as long as the
work came so near to antique art. This time, however,
she owned to Brognolo that she was not altogether
satisfied, but did not dare tell the artist her opinion
for fear of exciting his wrath. “ I know,” she adds,
“the man is the best master in Italy, but unfor-
tunately he is not always in the right mood.”1
This fine taste and quickness to recognise true
excellence naturally attracted the best artists into
Isabella’s service. She might be hasty and im-
petuous in her orders; she often grumbled at the
cost of pictures and gems, tried to beat down the
price, and was undoubtedly difficult to please, but
1 Gruyer, L’ Art Ferrarais a I’epoque des Princes d’Este, vol. i.
pp. 575, 714, &c.