E.10 Boyvin?, Saturn and Philyra

Engraving by René Boyvin?, 20.7 x 10.3 L (Vienna).

Fig.E.10 (Vienna)

Robert-Dumesnil, VIII, 1850, 30, no. 25 (wrongly as Neptune and Ceres).  Herbet, III, 1899, 35-36 (1969, 123-124).  Levron, 1941, 74, no. 174, Pl. LXXIV.  All as Boyvin after Rosso, except Levron who gives it to the shop.

COLLECTIONS: London, W3-125.  Paris, Ed 3 (tear lower right).  Vienna, F.I.3, p.12, no. 20.

LITERATURE:

Mariette, Abécédario, 1858-1859, 19, as Boyvin after Rosso.

Kusenberg, 1931, 161.

Linzeler, 1932, 170.  Both as Boyvin after Rosso.

Carroll, 1987, 44, 270-271, with Fig. (Vienna).

This engraving is related to the painted scene to the right of the Royal Elephant in the Gallery of Francis I and shows it in the original direction (Fig.P.22, VI N a).  The print shows part of a scythe at the lower right that does not appear in the painting.

The print is probably based on a lost drawing by Rosso of 1534-1536, details of the composition of which were only slightly modified when it was transferred to the wall in the gallery.  Most significantly different is the face of the horse, which is more in profile in the painting, and more plausibly described.  Philyra is pulling the horse’s mane in the print but only playing with it in the fresco.

Neither signed nor bearing Boyvin’s monogram, the attribution of this print to him or his shop is not certain.  The print forms a pair with E.9 (Fig.E.9), the Rape of Europa, also in the original direction of Rosso’s painting in the gallery.  Boyvin’s prints are generally in reverse of their models.  The fact that these scenes are not reversed may eventually bear upon the identification of the engraver.

For another print wrongly ascribed to Boyvin but related to the framing of the Combat of Centaurs and Lapiths in the Gallery of Francis I, see Anonymous, E.139, (Fig.E.139), Two groups of three putti on and before two garlands of fruit hanging from a mask in the center.