DOI Artikel:
Shorr, Dorothy C.: The identification of the captives in Petrarch's Triumph of Fame
DOI Artikel:Kieslinger, Franz: Der Wiener Meister mit den Bandrollen um 1881, [1]
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6337#0050
They are to be found, fully clothed and nameless, in a contemporary Triumph of Farne
in the Accademia at Siena, painted by an artist of the Florentine School and, as small dark-
cloaked men, in the definitely earlier cassone panel dating from c. 1400, now in the possession
of Dr. Mog in Munich (Fig. 2). But the subject of this panel, though Schubring calls it "the
earliest reproduction of Petrarch's Triumph of Farne" (Pantheon 4, Dec. 1929, p. 561), is much
nearer in character to the "Gloria" ofthepoet's earlier de viris illustribus than it is to the
"Farne" of the Trionfi. If this be the case, itwould seemthatthe figures of the two captives
were already present in the earlier Version and were taken over, together with the rest of the
cortege, by the Illustrators of the Trionfi. Although many of the figures in this cassone
panel are named, the two small prisoners are nameless, and though they appear under various
forms in many subsequent representations of Fame, the only other instance in which the
names are given is in the reduced free copy of the Albertina engraving, also in the same col-
lection and by the Master of the Smaller Vienna Passion (Fig. 3). Here they are labelled
SPENDIO and MACHIO and appear as two jaunty youths untroubled by their fate. On the
other band, the names do not appear in either the Cafaggiolo plate of the Triumph of Fame
in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Fig. 4) or the Modena Biblioteca Estense (Ms. ital. 103,
Fig. 5) illustrations of the Trionfi, both of which derive from the Albertina engraving.
It must have been some time between 1447 and 1455 that the Italian humanist, Niccolö
Perotti, translated the history of Polybius at the order of Pope Nicholas V who governed
during those years. The dramatic story of the two rebel chiefs and their violent end may
have been such a populär one with the Florentines of that day that the artist (or the originator
of the pageant) decided to identify the traditional figures of the two captives with the two
well-known historical characters. It is true that their names are only mentioned in this one
representation but this might imply that the presence of Spendius and Mathos as distinct
personalities was such a purely local and ephemeral occurrence as to have no subsequent
significance.
It is evident that the artist himself did not draw directly from the history of Polybius
since it states that Spendius was crucified. However, this disregard for historical facts is more
usual than otherwise and in the identification of Spendius and Mathos it would seem that
one of the minor problems of early Italian engraving had found a Solution.
FRANZ KIESLINGER / DER WIENER MEISTER MIT DEN
BANDROLLEN UM 1881
Im folgenden sei versucht, eine Gruppe von angeblich spätgotischen deutschen Zeichnungen
als vermutlich in Wien entstandene Fälschungen zwischen 1880 und 1890 nachzuweisen.
Wir glauben, im Interesse der Allgemeinheit dies tun zu sollen, und sind uns bewußt, damit
manchmal zur Meinung alterprobter Kenner in Widerspruch zu treten. Aber niemand ist vor
Irrtum gefeit. Ausgangspunkt bildet die Zeichnung eines stehenden Ritters, abgebildet als
Nr. 614 im Albertinawerk von Schönbrunner und Meder (Abb. 1). Dort heißt es: Nürnberger
Meister um 1481.1 Im kürzlich erschienenen Bande von O. Benesch über die österreichischen
1 Der Ritter, Abb. 1. Besitzer Fürst Liechtenstein. Schönbrunner-Meder, Taf. 614. Sonst als Nürnberger Meister
um 1481. 22-2 X 14-7 cm, grau grundiertes Papier. Höhung weiß, rot, gelb [sie!]. Das L C ist als unvollständiges W
bezeichnet, statt NIMER AN liest man NIMER AB. Stark verschnitten.
44
in the Accademia at Siena, painted by an artist of the Florentine School and, as small dark-
cloaked men, in the definitely earlier cassone panel dating from c. 1400, now in the possession
of Dr. Mog in Munich (Fig. 2). But the subject of this panel, though Schubring calls it "the
earliest reproduction of Petrarch's Triumph of Farne" (Pantheon 4, Dec. 1929, p. 561), is much
nearer in character to the "Gloria" ofthepoet's earlier de viris illustribus than it is to the
"Farne" of the Trionfi. If this be the case, itwould seemthatthe figures of the two captives
were already present in the earlier Version and were taken over, together with the rest of the
cortege, by the Illustrators of the Trionfi. Although many of the figures in this cassone
panel are named, the two small prisoners are nameless, and though they appear under various
forms in many subsequent representations of Fame, the only other instance in which the
names are given is in the reduced free copy of the Albertina engraving, also in the same col-
lection and by the Master of the Smaller Vienna Passion (Fig. 3). Here they are labelled
SPENDIO and MACHIO and appear as two jaunty youths untroubled by their fate. On the
other band, the names do not appear in either the Cafaggiolo plate of the Triumph of Fame
in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Fig. 4) or the Modena Biblioteca Estense (Ms. ital. 103,
Fig. 5) illustrations of the Trionfi, both of which derive from the Albertina engraving.
It must have been some time between 1447 and 1455 that the Italian humanist, Niccolö
Perotti, translated the history of Polybius at the order of Pope Nicholas V who governed
during those years. The dramatic story of the two rebel chiefs and their violent end may
have been such a populär one with the Florentines of that day that the artist (or the originator
of the pageant) decided to identify the traditional figures of the two captives with the two
well-known historical characters. It is true that their names are only mentioned in this one
representation but this might imply that the presence of Spendius and Mathos as distinct
personalities was such a purely local and ephemeral occurrence as to have no subsequent
significance.
It is evident that the artist himself did not draw directly from the history of Polybius
since it states that Spendius was crucified. However, this disregard for historical facts is more
usual than otherwise and in the identification of Spendius and Mathos it would seem that
one of the minor problems of early Italian engraving had found a Solution.
FRANZ KIESLINGER / DER WIENER MEISTER MIT DEN
BANDROLLEN UM 1881
Im folgenden sei versucht, eine Gruppe von angeblich spätgotischen deutschen Zeichnungen
als vermutlich in Wien entstandene Fälschungen zwischen 1880 und 1890 nachzuweisen.
Wir glauben, im Interesse der Allgemeinheit dies tun zu sollen, und sind uns bewußt, damit
manchmal zur Meinung alterprobter Kenner in Widerspruch zu treten. Aber niemand ist vor
Irrtum gefeit. Ausgangspunkt bildet die Zeichnung eines stehenden Ritters, abgebildet als
Nr. 614 im Albertinawerk von Schönbrunner und Meder (Abb. 1). Dort heißt es: Nürnberger
Meister um 1481.1 Im kürzlich erschienenen Bande von O. Benesch über die österreichischen
1 Der Ritter, Abb. 1. Besitzer Fürst Liechtenstein. Schönbrunner-Meder, Taf. 614. Sonst als Nürnberger Meister
um 1481. 22-2 X 14-7 cm, grau grundiertes Papier. Höhung weiß, rot, gelb [sie!]. Das L C ist als unvollständiges W
bezeichnet, statt NIMER AN liest man NIMER AB. Stark verschnitten.
44