{"id":2607,"date":"2011-12-13T18:22:23","date_gmt":"2011-12-13T22:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vassar.edu\/rosso\/"},"modified":"2012-08-16T15:43:12","modified_gmt":"2012-08-16T19:43:12","slug":"d-58a-b-copies-the-funeral-of-hector-for-an-unexecuted-fresco-in-the-gallery-of-francis-i-fontainebleau","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/catalogues\/drawings\/d-58a-b-copies-the-funeral-of-hector-for-an-unexecuted-fresco-in-the-gallery-of-francis-i-fontainebleau\/","title":{"rendered":"D.58A, B (COPIES) The Funeral of Hector"},"content":{"rendered":"

For an Unexecuted Fresco in the Gallery of Francis I, Fontainebleau<\/strong><\/p>\n

1535 or 1536<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

D.58A (COPY) Funeral of Hector, Weimar<\/p><\/div>\n

D.58A. Weimar, Nationale Forschungs-und Gedenkst\u00e4tten der klassischen deutschen Literatur in Weimar (Goethe-Nationalmuseum), Schuchardt I, 244, no. 117.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fig.D.58A<\/a><\/p>\n

Pen and black and brown inks and wash, 28.1 x 41.8; laid down; wm?.\u00a0 Inscribed in ink at the lower right: Rosso<\/em>.\u00a0 On the verso<\/em> inscribed in ink and in a single hand: Maitre Roux \/ Dessein superbe. provenant. \/ du Cabinet Walraven vendue \u00e0 Amsterdam 1765- \/ [du Cabinet] L.J. du Bourg a Amsterdam 1766.- \/ [du Cabinet] Winkler a Leipzig 1815 – \/ [du Cabinet] Kayl \u00e0 Leipzig 1822 – \/ -Josh Grunling <\/em>[signature], and to the left of the signature: L6.56 \u00a0. <\/sup><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>[underlined] \/ L.9[?] – [???]. Eigene kosten.<\/em>; also in pencil at the left: 444<\/em>.1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

PROVENANCE: Walraven; L. J. du Bourg; Winkler; Kayl (on which see inscription on verso<\/em>); J. Gr\u00fcnling (Lugt 1107); J. W. von Goethe.<\/p>\n

LITERATURE:<\/p>\n

Christian Schuchardt, Katalog: Goethes Kunstsammlung<\/em>, I, Jena, 1848, 244, no. 117, as Primaticcio.<\/p>\n

Zerner, 1967, under A.F. 21, as Rosso\u2019s composition.<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1987, 242, 244, n. 1 under no. 75, as a copy of a lost drawing by Rosso of 1535 or 1536.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

D.58B (COPY) Funeral of Hector, Montpellier<\/p><\/div>\n

D.58B. Montpellier, Mus\u00e9e Fabre, inv. no. 864-2-626 (formerly 3180?).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fig.D.58B<\/a><\/p>\n

Pen and ink and wash, 19 x 36.7, irregularly cut on all sides, the lower corners missing as well as the bottom third of the composition; creased down the middle; wm., part of a curving pointed shape (ray?) at the lower left.2<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

LITERATURE:<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1987, 242, 244, n. 1, as a copy of a lost drawing by Rosso of 1535 or 1536.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As discussed in P.22, III S, and in Chapter VIII, these drawings are copies of a lost drawing by Rosso that was used by Fantuzzi to make his etching (Fig.E.72<\/a>).\u00a0 But the drawings show the architecture somewhat less complete – see the absence of moldings on the circular building in the center of the background – and two men are bald in the drawing that have hair in the print.\u00a0 The absence of these details is found elsewhere in Rosso\u2019s drawings, as in the Allegory of the Virgin as the Ark of the Covenant<\/em> (Fig.D.33Aa<\/a>) and the Design for a Chapel<\/em> (Fig.D.37a<\/a>).\u00a0 They would have been supplied in the final works, as they have been added by Fantuzzi to his etching.<\/p>\n

Before discussing these drawings further, it should be pointed out that both of them differ from Fantuzzi\u2019s print in several other more significant details.\u00a0 The drawings show clouds entirely encircling the scene, which, in the complete Weimar drawing, eliminates an entire figure from the lower left corner.\u00a0 A large building with pilasters is also missing at the right – it appears at the left in the print – and at the bottom center of the scene in the Weimar drawing there is a shield with a rampant lion holding what seems to be a mace.\u00a0 The reclining nude boy to the right of it leans with his left arm and hand on the shield, while in the print his hand touches the ground.\u00a0 It seems, then, that the drawings show a re-working of Rosso\u2019s design, probably not by Rosso, to adapt it to some other use when it was not painted in the area now occupied by the Death of Adonis<\/em> in the gallery.3<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 It is also possible that the Montpellier drawing was copied from the slightly more detailed Weimar sheet.\u00a0 The second torch in the Weimar drawing is drawn only with wash, and this is vaguely repeated in the other drawing.\u00a0 The composition is more faithfully recorded in Fantuzzi\u2019s etching, which would seem to be directly dependent on Rosso\u2019s lost drawing.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, even though the composition has been slightly re-worked, but mainly by eliminating a few elements, not by any elaboration of the scene, the drawings reflect Rosso\u2019s style.\u00a0 The figures are clearly his.\u00a0 At the left, the bent over woman with hands clasped before her resembles the old woman with a hammer at the right of the relief beneath the Centaurs and Lapiths <\/em>fresco in the gallery (Fig.P.22, I S c<\/a>).\u00a0 In the center, the young woman with streaming hair is similar in pose to the figure at the far left of the Twins of Catania <\/em>(Fig.P.22, V N a<\/a>).\u00a0 The pose of the nude corpse with its arched chest suggests that of the body of Christ in the Borgo Sansepolcro Piet\u00e0<\/em> (Fig.P.19a<\/a>).\u00a0 The background architecture functions as a setting like that in the Unity of the State<\/em> (Fig.P.22, VI S a<\/a>).\u00a0 In the drawings, there appears to be a glimpse into the distance to the left of the round building, as in the Unity of the State<\/em>; in the print there are buildings here, perhaps added by Fantuzzi.\u00a0 Compositionally, the Funeral of Hector<\/em>, with its central episode flanked by standing groups at left and right, is somewhat related to the Unity of the State<\/em>, although the former, because of its subject, is more dramatically active, suggesting a later date.\u00a0 Thus, on stylistic grounds, there is every reason to believe that the drawings preserve a composition by Rosso.<\/p>\n

Poor as the penmanship of the drawings is, it nevertheless reflects the kind that appears in Rosso\u2019s Design for an Altar<\/em> (Fig.D.38a<\/a>), in his Annunciation<\/em> in the Albertina (Fig.D.43a<\/a>), and in the Petrarch drawing at Christ Church (Fig.D.47a<\/a>).\u00a0 Similar quite regular contours appear in all these drawings, with some interior details described with small and frequently parallel strokes.\u00a0 The background architecture is almost haphazardly delineated but in its simple outlines it is drawn quite like the buildings in the background of the Petrarch drawing.\u00a0 What is not so easy to evaluate is the handling of the washes.\u00a0 There are basically two values of wash and they are applied more or less consistently with respect to a source of light from the upper left.\u00a0 They bear some resemblance to the washes in Rosso\u2019s Pandora<\/em> drawing (Fig.D.67a<\/a>).\u00a0 Thus, given also the kind of penmanship that appears in the copies, it is possible that the original drawing was also executed in pen and ink and wash.\u00a0 But it is also possible that it had white highlights and a dark ground like the Petrarch drawing and the lost original of Rosso\u2019s study for the first version of the Scene of Sacrifice<\/em> (Fig.D.50B<\/a>).<\/p>\n

As argued in P.22 and in Chapter VIII, the Funeral of Hector<\/em>, with Hector\u2019s son Francus holding the baton in the foreground,1<\/sup><\/a> would have been designed for the area occupied by the Death of Adonis<\/em>, which was conceived after 10 August 1536.\u00a0 However, on stylistic grounds, the Funeral of Hector<\/em> does not seem to be among the earliest compositions that Rosso designed for the gallery.\u00a0 It has more of the energy and dramatic force of such scenes as the Cleobis and Biton<\/em> (Fig.P.22, V S a<\/a>) and the Enlightenment of Francis I<\/em> (Fig.P.22, VII S a<\/a>), which are datable, as inventions, probably in 1535 or 1536.\u00a0 Hence, the lost original drawing of the Funeral of Hector<\/em> would appear to have been done in these years.<\/p>\n

PRINT: Fantuzzi, E.72 (Fig.E.72<\/a>).\u00a0 Etching derived from Rosso\u2019s original drawing or from a copy of it, but not from D.58A or B.<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
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<\/a>1<\/sup> I should like to thank Dr. Dieter Eckhardt for information on this drawing and for photographs of it.\u00a0 The drawing was kindly brought to my attention by Sylvie B\u00e9guin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/a>2<\/sup> I should like to thank M. Jean Clapar\u00e8de for information on this drawing and for a photograph of it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/a>3<\/sup> It could be thought that the copies represent Rosso\u2019s lost drawing faithfully and that it is Fantuzzi\u2019s etching that misrepresents it by eliminating the clouds, supplying the parts of the figures that they conceal in the drawings, adding the seated male nude in the corner, as well as eliminating the shield and changing the position of the nude boy near it.\u00a0 But the awkward posture of this boy in the drawings, and the blimp-like clouds arranged symmetrically, can hardly be attributed to Rosso.\u00a0 Furthermore, the rampant lion on the shield seems not to have any meaning in relation to Francis I.\u00a0 However, the addition of the shield with its emblem indicates that whoever modified the scene knew that the issue of rule was an aspect of its original meaning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/a>4<\/sup> On the subject of Francis, or Francion, see, besides Chastel, 1972, 143, Margaret R. Scherer, The Legends of Troy in Art and Literature<\/em>, New York and London, 1964, 224-227, and Pierre Jodogne, \u201cLes \u2018Rh\u00e9torigueurs\u2019 et l\u2019Humanisme,\u201d in Humanism in France<\/em>, ed. A. H. T. Levi, New York and Manchester, 1970, 161, 172-173, n. 66.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For an Unexecuted Fresco in the Gallery of Francis I, Fontainebleau 1535 or 1536 D.58A. Weimar, Nationale Forschungs-und Gedenkst\u00e4tten der klassischen deutschen Literatur in Weimar (Goethe-Nationalmuseum), Schuchardt I, 244, no. 117. Fig.D.58A Pen and black and brown inks and wash, 28.1 x 41.8; laid down; wm?.\u00a0 Inscribed in ink at the lower right: Rosso.\u00a0 On […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":820,"menu_order":62,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2607","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2607","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=2607"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6495,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2607\/revisions\/6495"}],"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=2607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}