{"id":2528,"date":"2011-12-12T17:53:47","date_gmt":"2011-12-12T21:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vassar.edu\/rosso\/"},"modified":"2013-05-30T14:09:52","modified_gmt":"2013-05-30T18:09:52","slug":"d-44-copy-narcissus","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/catalogues\/drawings\/d-44-copy-narcissus\/","title":{"rendered":"D.44 (COPY) Narcissus"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

D.44 (COPY) Narcissus<\/p><\/div>\n

1531 or 1532<\/p>\n

Turin, Biblioteca Reale, no. 16043.<\/p>\n

Fig.D.44<\/a><\/p>\n

Pen and ink and wash, heightened with white, over traces of black chalk, 40.7 x 31.8.\u00a0 As known from \u00c9tienne Delaune\u2019s print of this scene (Fig.E.49<\/a>), the drawing has been slightly trimmed at the top and left and considerably more at the right and bottom, removing thereby a second column at the right and the foreground of the perspective below.\u00a0 Inscribed in ink at the lower left: S martin de \/ boulogne — ou \/ Le bollognois<\/em>.\u00a0 A note by Popham on the mount attributes the drawing to Rosso.<\/p>\n

PROVENANCE: Lugt 2724: Acquired by Carlo Alberto of Savoy in 1845 from the dealer Giovanni Volpato.<\/p>\n

LITERATURE:<\/p>\n

Bertini, BdA<\/em>, 1952, 313-314, Fig. 7, as an academic and partially unfaithful copy after Rosso by a copyist influenced by Primaticcio.<\/p>\n

Bertini, 1958, 51, no. 380, and Fig., as a copy after Rosso as indicated by an inscription on an engraving of the composition, and as by a copyist influenced by Primaticcio.<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1964 (1976), I, Bk. I, 262-263, II, Bk. II, 442-443, D.55, Bk. III, Fig. 136a, as a copy of a lost drawing by Rosso of around 1538-1539, probably by \u00c9tienne Delaune.<\/p>\n

Zerner, in EdF<\/em>, 1972, 253-254, under no. 291, reported B\u00e9guin\u2019s opinion that the drawing is a copy of a French drawing by Rosso (the reference here to Berlin is a misprint for Bertini).<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1987, 194, 196-197, ns. 3-4, under no. 64, as a copy of a lost drawing of 1531 or 1532, and probably by Delaune.<\/p>\n

Boorsch, in French Renaissance<\/em>, 1994, 281, 282, n. 7, as Rosso, presumably a copy, perhaps by Delaune.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The inscription to Rosso on Delaune\u2019s very small engraving of this scene (Fig.E.49<\/a>) supports Pophams\u2019s attribution, which may have been made without knowledge of the print.\u00a0 The figures, the architecture, and the composition of the Turin drawing are very closely related to those of Rosso\u2019s Annunciation<\/em> drawing in the Albertina (Fig.D.43a<\/a>).\u00a0 Narcissus\u2019s profile is quite like that of the Virgin in that drawing, his hair is like Gabriel\u2019s, and his muscular body is similar to that of the angel\u2019s with his hands held up before his face.\u00a0 So similar are these two works that it is most likely that they were invented about the same time, probably in 1531 or 1532, although as with the former the date of the latter could be slightly later.\u00a0 However, the Narcissus<\/em> would seem not to have been invented after 1535, when Rosso\u2019s style takes on certain characteristics that do not appear in the Turin drawing.<\/p>\n

Although the draughtsmanship is too hard and too slick to be identified as Rosso\u2019s own, it does bear some resemblance to that of the Annunciation<\/em>.\u00a0 The Narcissus<\/em> would seem to be an accurate copy of a lost drawing by Rosso.\u00a0 However, one is inclined to wonder if the original drawing was done on a dark ground like the Annunciation<\/em> and the Mars and Venus<\/em> of 1530 (Fig.D.42a<\/a>).\u00a0 If it was, then the tonality of the original and the effects of light in it would have been somewhat different.\u00a0 It is, in fact, the special character of Rosso\u2019s light that is so much missing from the copy in Turin.<\/p>\n

The actual handling of the drawing suggests that the copyist was \u00c9tienne Delaune, the draughtsmanship of whose Children\u2019s Games<\/em>, of around 1560,1<\/sup><\/a> in the Louvre, is particularly similar to that of the Narcissus<\/em>.\u00a0 But nothing of the imagery of the drawing recalls Delaune\u2019s art, which may indicate how careful a copy the Turin drawing is.\u00a0 The rotund forms of Narcissus\u2019s body may reveal the influence of Primaticcio\u2019s style upon the copyist.\u00a0 The Turin drawing did not serve as the direct model from which the design was traced onto the engraver\u2019s plate as the print is of miniature size while the drawing is quite large.\u00a0 Rosso\u2019s lost drawing was probably the same size as the copy.\u00a0 In the drawing, the copyist had some difficulty defining the curved base on which the peeing putto sits.\u00a0 This detail in Delaune\u2019s engraving is also not surely rendered.<\/p>\n

PRINTS: \u00c9tienne Delaune, E.49 (Fig.E.49<\/a>).\u00a0 Engraving, in the same direction as the drawing, which, however, is considerably larger although it seems to have been made to serve as the model for the very small engraving.<\/p>\n

Anonymous, E.134 (Fig.E.134<\/a>).\u00a0 Engraving.\u00a0 A large copy of Delaune\u2019s print, in the same direction.<\/p>\n

Jean Mignon, Diana and Acteon<\/em>, etching, 43 x 57.5 (Zerner, Vienna), inscribed on a plaque at top: DOMINUM (the N backwards)\/ COGNOSCITE\/VESTRUM (Fig.Mignon<\/a>).\u00a0 COLLECTIONS: New York, 1980-1094. 3.\u00a0 Paris, Ed 8b, Vol. II.\u00a0 Vienna.\u00a0 LITERATURE: Bartsch, XVI, 1818, 404, 73, as anonymous, School of Fontainebleau, seemingly after Luca Penni.\u00a0 Herbet, IV, 1900, 336 (1969, 238), 22, as Mignon, after Penni; Herbet also mentioned a small copy in reverse differently inscribed.\u00a0 Adh\u00e9mar, 1946, Pl. XIV, as Mignon, after Penni, c. 1550.\u00a0 Zerner, 1969, J.M. 60, the composition surely by Penni with the background probably by Mignon; Zerner also mentioned that there are numerous copies of and derivations from this print. B\u00e9guin, RdA<\/em>, 1969, 107, Fig. 18, reproduced a picture of this scene in the ch\u00e2teau at Prague.\u00a0 Zerner, IB<\/em>, 33, 1979, 348.\u00a0 E. Hevers, in Zauber der Medusa<\/em>, 1987, 240, no. V, 10, Fig. (Paris).\u00a0 Boorsch, in French Renaissance<\/em>, 1994, 280-282, with Fig, no. 62, as after Luca Penni, and likely made during the reign of Henri II, the relief at \u00c9couen probably made from a drawing by Penni rather than from the print.<\/p>\n

The architecture and peeing boy are variations on those in Rosso\u2019s Narcissus<\/em> (see Carroll, 1987, 197, n. 12).\u00a0 Suzanne Boorsch suggested to me that the different angle of vision in the two works could indicate that such a fountain and setting actually existed at Fontainebleau.\u00a0 Although possible, the kinds and number of differences suggest to me Penni\u2019s working from and altering for his purposes Rosso\u2019s conception.\u00a0 Boorsch also brought to my attention the similar peeing putti in Boyvin\u2019s print of Ceres, after Thiry, in the set of Sixteen or Twenty Panels of Ornament with Pagan Gods<\/em> (RE.14<\/a>; Levron, 1941, Pl. LXII).<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
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<\/a>1<\/sup> See Adh\u00e9mar, 1954, Pl. 45.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1531 or 1532 Turin, Biblioteca Reale, no. 16043. Fig.D.44 Pen and ink and wash, heightened with white, over traces of black chalk, 40.7 x 31.8.\u00a0 As known from \u00c9tienne Delaune\u2019s print of this scene (Fig.E.49), the drawing has been slightly trimmed at the top and left and considerably more at the right and bottom, removing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":820,"menu_order":48,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2528","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2528"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9295,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2528\/revisions\/9295"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}