DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67657#0187
100
Florentine—Broad Manner.
[B.
Setting literary tradition on one side, a possible name for the
head of the broad-manner workshop is suggested by the interesting
document to which we have already alluded, namely the inventory
taken in 1528 of the miscellaneous stock-in-trade of the shopkeeper
Alessandro di Francesco Eosselli. Francesco, the father of this
Alessandro, was a brother of the painter Cosimo Eosselli, and is
himself described as an illuminator and printer (miniatore e stampa-
tore). The latter word, taken in connexion with the former, probably
means a printer of engravings rather than of books, and to suppose
that Francesco Eosselli as a miniatore drew designs in small and
as a stampatore engraved and printed them, becomes at least a
plausible interpretation of the words when we find how largely
his son’s stock-in-trade consisted of engraved plates. Moreover it
is to be noted that nearly all of these are the original plates of
engravings in the broad manner which will be found described in
the following section. They include the two plates of the Deluge
(B. III. 1 and 2), the first version having the Adoration of the Magi
(B. III. 6) engraved on the back (for economy of copper, as was
usual at this date), and the second the Temple of Solomon (B. III. 4);
the Story of Moses (B. III. 3) with the Death of Goliath (wrongly
transcribed by Pel Badia as Morte d’Ugolin) (B. III. 5) engraved
on the back; the Last Judgment (B. III. 8) with the Monte di Pietd
or Preaching of Fra Marco (B. III. 7) on the same plate; possibly
the great Assumption of the Virgin (B. III. 10), inventoried (or
at least so transcribed by Pel Badia) as Asenzione di 6 fogli
reali inn vn pezo; the large S. George (B. III. 11); and also seven-
teen of the Prophets and Sibyls, too ambiguously described for us
to make sure whether they are fine-manner plates, broad-manner
plates, or wood-blocks.
It is true that this very miscellaneous stock includes also a
large number of maps and charts, some apparently engraved and
some drawn, a number of wood-blocks, from most of which no
impressions are now known, and one or two recognisable fine-manner
III. p. 317. After speaking of the Dante prints, Vasari says that Botticelli
mise in stampa ancora molte cose sue di disegni ch' egli aveva fatti, ma in
cattiva maniera, perche I' intaglio era mat fatto : onde ilmeglio die si vegga di
sua mano e il trionfo della Fede di Fra Girolamo Savonarola da Ferrara . . .
The reference to ‘ bad engraving ’ would seem to point to secondary works in
the fine manner rather than to engravings in the clear-cut and workmanlike
broad manner. By the Triumph of Faith of Savonarola Vasari may either
mean some lost engraving, perhaps a print done for one of the preacher’s books,
or else, as is commonly surmised, a certain print in the broad manner (B. III. 7)
which really represents the preaching of Fra Marco and the institution of
Monti di Pieta, and seems not to be from the design of Botticelli at all.
Florentine—Broad Manner.
[B.
Setting literary tradition on one side, a possible name for the
head of the broad-manner workshop is suggested by the interesting
document to which we have already alluded, namely the inventory
taken in 1528 of the miscellaneous stock-in-trade of the shopkeeper
Alessandro di Francesco Eosselli. Francesco, the father of this
Alessandro, was a brother of the painter Cosimo Eosselli, and is
himself described as an illuminator and printer (miniatore e stampa-
tore). The latter word, taken in connexion with the former, probably
means a printer of engravings rather than of books, and to suppose
that Francesco Eosselli as a miniatore drew designs in small and
as a stampatore engraved and printed them, becomes at least a
plausible interpretation of the words when we find how largely
his son’s stock-in-trade consisted of engraved plates. Moreover it
is to be noted that nearly all of these are the original plates of
engravings in the broad manner which will be found described in
the following section. They include the two plates of the Deluge
(B. III. 1 and 2), the first version having the Adoration of the Magi
(B. III. 6) engraved on the back (for economy of copper, as was
usual at this date), and the second the Temple of Solomon (B. III. 4);
the Story of Moses (B. III. 3) with the Death of Goliath (wrongly
transcribed by Pel Badia as Morte d’Ugolin) (B. III. 5) engraved
on the back; the Last Judgment (B. III. 8) with the Monte di Pietd
or Preaching of Fra Marco (B. III. 7) on the same plate; possibly
the great Assumption of the Virgin (B. III. 10), inventoried (or
at least so transcribed by Pel Badia) as Asenzione di 6 fogli
reali inn vn pezo; the large S. George (B. III. 11); and also seven-
teen of the Prophets and Sibyls, too ambiguously described for us
to make sure whether they are fine-manner plates, broad-manner
plates, or wood-blocks.
It is true that this very miscellaneous stock includes also a
large number of maps and charts, some apparently engraved and
some drawn, a number of wood-blocks, from most of which no
impressions are now known, and one or two recognisable fine-manner
III. p. 317. After speaking of the Dante prints, Vasari says that Botticelli
mise in stampa ancora molte cose sue di disegni ch' egli aveva fatti, ma in
cattiva maniera, perche I' intaglio era mat fatto : onde ilmeglio die si vegga di
sua mano e il trionfo della Fede di Fra Girolamo Savonarola da Ferrara . . .
The reference to ‘ bad engraving ’ would seem to point to secondary works in
the fine manner rather than to engravings in the clear-cut and workmanlike
broad manner. By the Triumph of Faith of Savonarola Vasari may either
mean some lost engraving, perhaps a print done for one of the preacher’s books,
or else, as is commonly surmised, a certain print in the broad manner (B. III. 7)
which really represents the preaching of Fra Marco and the institution of
Monti di Pieta, and seems not to be from the design of Botticelli at all.