DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67657#0420
316 Engravings of Miscellaneous and Uncertain Schools. [F. IT.
From the form of the fortress, which is clearly modelled on the Castello di
S. Angelo and bears the arms of Pope Julius II, the present engraving is
almost certainly a Roman production. The address of Salamanca on the later
impressions also favours this assumption. The period of Julius’ office, 1503-
1513, sets limits for the date of the print. It may be noted that Sixtus IV
(Pope 1471-84), another member of the della Rovere family, used the same
coat of arms, but this early date is out of the question. The style of engraving,
which is like a coarse and clumsy caricature of the manner of Robetta, has its
nearest analogies in such prints as the preceding and following numbers and
the S. Jerome (D. III. 1). Even small characteristics such as the little birds
in the foreground of the S. Jerome and the present example are noteworthy.
The attribution to Lucantonio degli Uberti (see P. Kristeller, Early Florentine
Woodcuts, London 1897, p. xliii.) does not carry conviction.
20. A ROMAN SACRIFICE, after the antique. P. v. 22, 40.
A man kneels towards the r., holding down the head os a bull by the
horns and nostrils. Another standing behind the bull, swings the axe
with which he is about to smite him. A woman standing sarther back to
the r., plays on a tambourine, and a boy, in the centre background, on a
double-flute. Fire burns on a tripod in the centre, and a priest (or the
emperor?), his head bound by a fillet, stands near it towards the 1., holding
a wreath of leaves in his r. hand and a piece os drapery in his 1. In the
foreground, towards the 1., is a snake escaping from a basket. In the
background is the portico of a temple with sour columns, its pediment
adorned with a head within a wreath tied with ribbons.
[193 x 157] Good impression, showing the plate-line.
Collections: Sykes, Woodburn.
Purchased 1845. 8. 25. 375.
Other impression: Paris (B. N.).
The print is undoubtedly copied or adapted from some antique relief. If
the engraver merely adapted we might refer to two reliefs from either of which
he might have received some suggestion. One of these formed part of the
‘ Ara Pacis Augustae ’ and is reproduced by Eugen Petersen in his book on the
same, Vienna 1902, Plate VII. r., and fig. 35 (a relief from the Villa Medici).1
Another relief of a similar composition which also came from the Villa Medici,
and is now in the Uffizi (No. 147, Room of the Hermaphrodite), was reproduced
by Bartoli in his Admiranda Romanorum Antiquitatum, Plate 10 (see also
Papers of the British School at Rome Vol. Ill (1905), p. 241, fig 4; and Mrs.
Strong, Roman Art, 1907, p. 144, and plate XLIV). The man kneeling and
holding the horns of the bull is similar in both these examples, but the attendant
lifting the axe (and in a posture considerably different) only occurs in the Uffizi
relief. The other three figures of the print are possibly taken from some other
source. The Dionysiac snake in basket (compare F. II. 15 above) is out of place
in the present subject. The same composition is also seen in a contemporary
Italian bronze plaquette (see Molinier, Les Plaquettes, 1886, No. 528 ; reprod.
in Berlin, Beschreibung der Bildwerke der Christi. Epochs, Bd. II. Die It al.
Bronzen, 2te Auss. 1904, No. 918).
The engraving is very poor. In its masses of dark irregular shading it is
nearer to the Adoration of the Magi (the preceding number) than to anything
else of the period, but is even cruder and more amateurish. Dr. Kristeller
unconvincingly attributes this as wrell as the two preceding examples to
Lucantonio degli Uberti. It is possible that the engraver may have known
1 See also Mrs. Strong, Roman Art, London 1907, pp. 39, etc., and plates
VIII. and XVI.
From the form of the fortress, which is clearly modelled on the Castello di
S. Angelo and bears the arms of Pope Julius II, the present engraving is
almost certainly a Roman production. The address of Salamanca on the later
impressions also favours this assumption. The period of Julius’ office, 1503-
1513, sets limits for the date of the print. It may be noted that Sixtus IV
(Pope 1471-84), another member of the della Rovere family, used the same
coat of arms, but this early date is out of the question. The style of engraving,
which is like a coarse and clumsy caricature of the manner of Robetta, has its
nearest analogies in such prints as the preceding and following numbers and
the S. Jerome (D. III. 1). Even small characteristics such as the little birds
in the foreground of the S. Jerome and the present example are noteworthy.
The attribution to Lucantonio degli Uberti (see P. Kristeller, Early Florentine
Woodcuts, London 1897, p. xliii.) does not carry conviction.
20. A ROMAN SACRIFICE, after the antique. P. v. 22, 40.
A man kneels towards the r., holding down the head os a bull by the
horns and nostrils. Another standing behind the bull, swings the axe
with which he is about to smite him. A woman standing sarther back to
the r., plays on a tambourine, and a boy, in the centre background, on a
double-flute. Fire burns on a tripod in the centre, and a priest (or the
emperor?), his head bound by a fillet, stands near it towards the 1., holding
a wreath of leaves in his r. hand and a piece os drapery in his 1. In the
foreground, towards the 1., is a snake escaping from a basket. In the
background is the portico of a temple with sour columns, its pediment
adorned with a head within a wreath tied with ribbons.
[193 x 157] Good impression, showing the plate-line.
Collections: Sykes, Woodburn.
Purchased 1845. 8. 25. 375.
Other impression: Paris (B. N.).
The print is undoubtedly copied or adapted from some antique relief. If
the engraver merely adapted we might refer to two reliefs from either of which
he might have received some suggestion. One of these formed part of the
‘ Ara Pacis Augustae ’ and is reproduced by Eugen Petersen in his book on the
same, Vienna 1902, Plate VII. r., and fig. 35 (a relief from the Villa Medici).1
Another relief of a similar composition which also came from the Villa Medici,
and is now in the Uffizi (No. 147, Room of the Hermaphrodite), was reproduced
by Bartoli in his Admiranda Romanorum Antiquitatum, Plate 10 (see also
Papers of the British School at Rome Vol. Ill (1905), p. 241, fig 4; and Mrs.
Strong, Roman Art, 1907, p. 144, and plate XLIV). The man kneeling and
holding the horns of the bull is similar in both these examples, but the attendant
lifting the axe (and in a posture considerably different) only occurs in the Uffizi
relief. The other three figures of the print are possibly taken from some other
source. The Dionysiac snake in basket (compare F. II. 15 above) is out of place
in the present subject. The same composition is also seen in a contemporary
Italian bronze plaquette (see Molinier, Les Plaquettes, 1886, No. 528 ; reprod.
in Berlin, Beschreibung der Bildwerke der Christi. Epochs, Bd. II. Die It al.
Bronzen, 2te Auss. 1904, No. 918).
The engraving is very poor. In its masses of dark irregular shading it is
nearer to the Adoration of the Magi (the preceding number) than to anything
else of the period, but is even cruder and more amateurish. Dr. Kristeller
unconvincingly attributes this as wrell as the two preceding examples to
Lucantonio degli Uberti. It is possible that the engraver may have known
1 See also Mrs. Strong, Roman Art, London 1907, pp. 39, etc., and plates
VIII. and XVI.