RE.21 Cartouche with Two Nude Men

Cartouche with Two Nude Men Carrying Large Garlands Framing a View of a Port Set in an Oval

Etching by Antonio Fantuzzi, 32.2 x 48.1 S, the etched area arched at the top (London).  Inscribed with Fantuzzi’s monogram toward the lower left beneath the profile mask.

Fig.RE.21 (Paris)

Bartsch, XVI, 1818, 351, 31, as Fantuzzi.  Herbet, II, 1896, 270-271 (1969, 66-67), 6.  Zerner, 1969, A.F.44 (Paris), as 1542-1543.

COLLECTIONS: London, 1850-5-27-39.  Paris.  Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, Vol. 168(1), no. 15 (see Schéfer below).  Vienna, Vol. XIII, 2, p.71, no. 431, printed in dark brown ink.

LITERATURE:

Schéfer, 1894-1929, col. 552, no. 15.

Berliner, 1925-1926, I, Pl. 109, Text Volume, 40.

Kusenberg, 1931, 166, as in the style of Rosso and perhaps after a lost decoration at Fontainebleau.

Thomas, 1959, 66, Fig. 73, 70.

Zerner, IB, 33, 1979, 251 (Vienna).

Adelson, 1980, 161, Fig. 52.

Only Kusenberg suggested that the design of this etching might be Rosso’s.  It is related to the kind of decoration that he invented for the Gallery of Francis I, insofar as it has the divisions and the proportions of the wall schemes there.  The oval center could reflect the original design of some of these schemes, such as for the Education of Achilles, which, in its actual rectangular format, has the central scene flanked by huge male nudes, not, however, carrying large garlands of fruits and vegetables.  No schemes like those in the gallery would seem to have been invented by Rosso for another location.  The upper part of the decoration in the etching rises too high ever to have been planned for the gallery and the largeness and more or less even breadth of the flat framing elements do not suggest Rosso.  Nevertheless, while this cartouche as it specifically appears in this etching cannot be attributed to Rosso, it could reflect in some ways a design by him for the gallery.