E.150 Anonymous, Allegory on the Birth of Christ

Etching, Anonymous, 26.3 x 22.4 L (Paris, Ed 8b Rés.).

Fig.E.150 (Paris, Ba 12)

Herbet, IV, 1900, 353 (1969, 203), under no. 18, as a copy after Fantuzzi, and Herbet, V, 1902, 22 (1969, 215), as a copy after Master I.♀.V.

COLLECTIONS: Paris, Ba 12; Ed 8b Rés., no. 128 bis (in reddish brown ink).

LITERATURE:

Kusenberg, 1931, 168, as a copy after Jean Vaquet (Master I.♀.V.).

Zerner, 1969, under A.F.74, as an anonymous copy after Fantuzzi.

Zerner, in EdF, 1972, 271, 273, under no. 325, as a copy after Fantuzzi.

Zerner, in Fontainebleau, 1973, II, 85, under no. 325.

Carroll, 1987, 310, 315, n. 2, under no. 100.

Boorsch, 1988, 9, Fig. 5.

This etching has been thought to be a copy of the print by Fantuzzi (Fig.E.81) or of the one in reverse by Master I.♀.V (Fig.E.100).  But this anonymous print seems instead to go back to Rosso’s drawing (Fig.D.72) or to a copy of it, showing originally the vase-bearer without any garment and St. John wearing a wreath in his hair.  Rosso’s drawing seems also to have been known to the other printmakers.  The anonymous etcher made a few changes: four figures in the background were removed and the setting was changed from an interior to an exterior with a ruin, plants, vines, and a tree; the staff held by the old man in the center is smooth and has a cross piece at the top making the staff resemble a crutch; the cross in the foreground has been eliminated; and the young seated woman in the foreground has her breasts covered.