Cartouche Framing an Upright Blank Oval with a Standing Nude Woman at the Left and a Nude Man at the Right, Each with a Shield at the Side and a Garland Hanging from Above Falling Over Their Outer Shoulders.

Possibly after Rosso.

Etching by Jacques Androuet Du Cerceau.

Herbet, IV, 1900, 303 (1965, 153), VI (Petits Cartouches), 1.

COLLECTIONS: Amsterdam (De Jong and de Groot, 1988, 226, 542.1, Fig. [in reverse of Herbet’s description]).  New York, 62.525, no. 28 (in reverse of Herbet’s description?).

The vocabulary of this cartouche is similar to that of Du Cerceau’s Petit Cartouche 28 (Fig.E.57,11) that is copied from an etching by Fantuzzi (Fig.E.67), which is based on a lost drawing by Rosso for the center of the lost decoration of the East Wall of the Gallery of Francis I.  It is just possible that the cartouche catalogued here is related to what originally decorated the center of the West Wall, assuming certain modifications by Du Cerceau.

DERIVATION: Moro.  Cartouche with a standing nude woman at the left and a nude man at the right, each with a shield at the side and a garland hanging from above falling over the shoulder of each, framing a figured scene in an upright oval.  Etching and drypoint, 17.7 x 12.6 P (New York).  Bartsch, XVI, 1818, 84, 16, as Schiavone.  Herbet, IV, 1900, 303 (1969, 153), under Du Cerceau IV (Petits Cartouches), 1, as Schiavone.  COLLECTION: New York (State I).  LITERATURE: Zerner, IB, 32, 1979 (State I, New York), as G.B. Pittoni?  De Jong and de Groot, 1988, 226, under 542.1, as Pittoni.

Du Cerceau’s print is copied with many variations.  Moro has placed the bust of a woman above, flanked by seated male nudes, and has set a scene within the oval described by Bartsch as the Judgment of Paris.