{"id":3755,"date":"2012-04-04T16:47:51","date_gmt":"2012-04-04T20:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vassar.edu\/rosso\/?page_id=3755"},"modified":"2015-05-18T15:36:05","modified_gmt":"2015-05-18T19:36:05","slug":"e-2-alberti-stoning","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/catalogues\/engravings\/e-2-alberti-stoning\/","title":{"rendered":"E.2 Stoning of St. Stephen"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

E.2b Alberti, Stoning of St. Stephen, IV<\/p><\/div>\n

Engraving by Cherubino Alberti, 39.2 x 28.2 Line + margin below of 1.6 Line to Sheet (Vienna III?).<\/p>\n

Six states:<\/p>\n

I.\u00a0 Incomplete: the figures unfinished but extensively engraved, as are the shafts of the three columns and the temple at the sides and the aureole of light above.1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

II.\u00a0 Inscribed at the lower left: Nobili uiro Dno<\/sup> Pompeo Nigrio Bononiensi \/ Huius Artis Fautori \/ Dicatum<\/em>; in the lower middle: Rubeus . <\/sup><\/strong>Florentinus . <\/sup><\/strong>inuen<\/em>. <\/sup><\/strong>; and on a block at the lower right: Romae . <\/sup><\/strong>A – \/ 1575<\/em>; and the cipher of Alberti on the edge of rock.<\/p>\n

III.\u00a0 The inscription at the lower left has been removed, although traces of it still remain.\u00a0 Inscription added in the margin at the bottom, at the right: Ioannes Orlandi formis rome 1602<\/em>.<\/p>\n

IV.\u00a0 The name Ioannes Orlandi<\/em> has been removed.<\/p>\n

V.\u00a0 Orlandi\u2019s name, traces of which are slightly visible, replaced with Nicolao Van Aelst<\/em>.<\/p>\n

VI.\u00a0 Inscription in margin removed.\u00a0 Inscription added at lower left of picture area: Romae apud Garolum Losi 1774<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Fig.E.2a<\/a> (Counterproof of State I, Christie\u2019s)
Fig.E.2b<\/a> (State IV, Vienna, p.36)<\/p>\n

ADD Fig.E.2c Figures only<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Heinecken, I, 1778, 95.\u00a0 Bartsch, XVII, 1818, 68, 51 (States I and III).\u00a0 Le Blanc, 1854-1890, I, 9, 52 (States II-V).<\/p>\n

COLLECTIONS: Berlin, 160-20 (III).\u00a0 Florence, Marucelliana, Vol. XIII, 36 (II).\u00a0 London, W3-135 (III).\u00a0 London, Christie\u2019s, Sale, December 4, 1986, lot 24 and Fig. (counterproof of I).\u00a0 New York, 49.95.307 (VI).\u00a0 Paris, Ba 12, p.16 (V); Eb 13 (II).\u00a0 Rome (IV).\u00a0 Vienna, It.I.37, p.36 (IV), p.37 (II); It.II.21, p.75 (III?, bottom margin cut off).<\/p>\n

LITERATURE:<\/p>\n

\n

Mariette, Ab\u00e9c\u00e9dario<\/em>, 1858-1859, 18, as Alberti after Rosso.<\/p>\n

Kusenberg, 1931, 157, 159, Pl. LXXIX, 3 (Paris).<\/p>\n

Servolini, 1932, 757, Fig. (Rome).<\/p>\n

Borea, 1980, 251, 252, no. 635 (Florence, Marucelliana), with implication that it is after a drawing by Rosso of 1527-1530.<\/p>\n

Buffa, I.B.<\/em>, 34, 1982, 170 (London).<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1987, 10, 29, 37, 41, 154-159, no. 52, with Fig. (Vienna, IV).<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1989, 17, 31, n. 16, Fig. 32 (Vienna, IV) and Fig. 33 (London, Christie\u2019s, counterproof of I), as the only print made from a drawing by Rosso that has been extensively enlarged.<\/p>\n

Franklin, 1994, 255-258, Pl. 204 (London, III) and Pl. 205 (London, formerly Christie\u2019s, I), the two states showing that Rosso\u2019s original lost drawing contained only the figures and an indication of some architecture, such as the columns behind the figures, and a part of the temple, and perhaps the unfurling clouds, a theory partly confirmed by Vasari\u2019s painting of the same subject in S. Stefano dei Cavalieri in Pisa; he would date the image during Rosso\u2019s Aretine period because the cathedral of Arezzo is dedicated to St. Stephen and because he is one of the most popular local saints.<\/p>\n

Brilli, 1994, 25, Fig. (State III) as after Rosso\u2019s design of 1528.<\/p>\n

Costamagna, 1994, 80, 208, 210, under Cat. 65, mentioned as Rosso\u2019s in relation to Pontormo\u2019s Martyrdom of the Ten-thousand<\/em> as reflecting the horrors of the Sack of Rome.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Neither the attribution of the print to Alberti nor the inscription on it giving its design to Rosso has ever been doubted.\u00a0 The figures in the engraving are very much related to those in the center of the drawing in Rome (Fig.D.29<\/a>) made for the Christ in Glory<\/em> in Citt\u00e0 di Castello in the summer of 1528, shortly after the picture was commissioned on July 1.\u00a0 In both works the figures have the same kind of Michelangelesque musculature and similar complex postures and energetic movements.\u00a0 The drapery in both swings out and falls in similar ways, and the wavy hair of the stoner at the right in the print is virtually identical to that of the standing central figure in the drawing.\u00a0 In all these respects, the figures in the engraving also resemble those in the foreground of Rosso\u2019s Allegory of the Immaculate Conception<\/em> of 1528 in a German collection (Fig.D.30<\/a>).\u00a0 For stylistic reasons, the Stoning of St. Stephen<\/em> would seem to have been done around the same time.<\/p>\n

Vasari does not mention a work by Rosso of this subject, but he does record several instances of his making drawings for projects that were never executed and implies that there were more.\u00a0 Some of these projects were to be executed by other artists.\u00a0 All but one of these designs were made between 1527 and 1530, although only these may be recorded because it was during these years that Vasari knew Rosso personally.\u00a0 An earlier one of a Visitation<\/em> (L.17<\/a>) done in 1524 for Lappoli was made in Arezzo, which is one of the reasons why Vasari knew it.\u00a0 Stylistic and circumstantial evidence supports a date for the Stoning of St. Stephen<\/em> around 1528.\u00a0 One biographical detail suggests that the design was made in the summer or early autumn of 1528.\u00a0 Vasari records (1550, 801; 1568, II, 208; Vasari-Milanesi, V, 163-164) that shortly after beginning work on the Christ in Glory<\/em> in Citt\u00e0 di Castello, a studio accident followed by an illness caused Rosso to move to Borgo Sansepolcro and then, becoming even more ill, to go to \u201cPieve a Santo Stefano a pigliare aria.\u201d\u00a0 This must have occurred some time after 1 July 1528 when the Citt\u00e0 di Castello picture was commissioned (see P.20<\/a>) and before 24 November of that year when he had settled in Arezzo and had received the commission for the frescoes in S. Maria delle Lagrime (see D.31-D.34).\u00a0 It is quite likely that in response to the care he received in Pieve S. Stefano, which is only a few kilometers from Borgo Sansepolcro, Rosso made his drawing of St. Stephen, which Alberti engraved in 1574.\u00a0 Franklin placed the design during the time of Rosso\u2019s sojourn in Arezzo because St. Stephen is the patron saint of that town and one of the most popular local saints.\u00a0 If done in Arezzo, I would place it at the very beginning of Rosso\u2019s stay there, at the very end of 1528 or very early in 1529.\u00a0 But I am inclined to date it earlier because of the stylistic correspondences noted above.<\/p>\n

The major gesture of the saint\u2019s left hand suggests that the engraved image is in reverse of Rosso\u2019s lost drawing.\u00a0 Nothing of the setting of the scene, including the shield, drapery and sword at the left and the rocks in the foreground, seems to be due to Rosso.\u00a0 The pieced together architectural setting is not identifiable with that in any of Rosso\u2019s other works.\u00a0 If Rosso\u2019s lost drawing was only of the four figures in the scene, then the ring of clouds above and the radiance in it are also not due to him.\u00a0 Spatially, they are not really coordinated with what happens below.\u00a0 The counterproof of State I sold at Christie\u2019s in 1986 (Fig.E.2a<\/a>) supports the conclusion that everything surrounding the compact group of four figures was added by Alberti.\u00a0 It shows the figures incomplete, but already extensively engraved, as are the three columns, a small building, and the aureole of light above.\u00a0 The architecture of the background and the capitals of the columns are drawn in black chalk and ink by Alberti, it would seem, to serve as the model for the completion of the plate.\u00a0 It is likely that the figures are the same size as those of Rosso\u2019s lost drawing, but apparently it was too small and its composition too compact for the kind of scene that Alberti wished to publish in 1575.\u00a0 From the evidence of another drawing by Rosso of the Agony in the Garden<\/em> that Alberti engraved the previous year, Alberti might have felt the clouds and light he added stylistically compatible with Rosso\u2019s conception.<\/p>\n

Alberti, who was born in Borgo Sansepolcro, may well have obtained Rosso\u2019s drawing from someone in nearby Pieve S. Stefano.\u00a0 Alberti\u2019s access to this drawing also suggests that it was made by Rosso after he fled Rome.<\/p>\n

Franklin noted a resemblance between Rosso\u2019s composition and Vasari\u2019s painting of the same subject in S. Stefano dei Cavalieri in Pisa, completed by March or December 1571 (see Laura Corti, Vasari, Catalogo completo<\/em>, Florence, 1989, 147, and Maurizio Tazartes, Pittura, Cinquecento<\/em>, 1988, I, 326, 328, Fig. 492).\u00a0 Three of Vasari\u2019s figures resemble Rosso\u2019s, one, however, opposite to what the drawing would have shown.\u00a0 As Vasari\u2019s picture was done before Alberti made his engraving in 1574, his knowledge of Rosso\u2019s composition would have been from the lost drawing, or a copy of it.\u00a0 He might have known the drawing in the possession of Alberti in Rome.\u00a0 The resemblance is very loose, such that Barocchi (Vasari<\/em>, 1964, 66) thought of Vasari\u2019s painting as done \u201calla maniera di Giulio Romano\u201d (Fig.Vasari,S.Stefano<\/span>).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

<\/a>1<\/sup> This state is known from a counterproof sold at Christie\u2019s, London, 1986, measuring 41 x 29.5 (see below, and Fig.E.2a<\/a>).\u00a0 The architecture of the background and the capitals of the column are drawn by Alberti in black chalk and ink to serve as the model for the completion of the plate.\u00a0 I should like to thank David Franklin for bringing this impression to my attention and Laura A. E. Suffield of Christie\u2019s for sending me a photograph of it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Engraving by Cherubino Alberti, 39.2 x 28.2 Line + margin below of 1.6 Line to Sheet (Vienna III?). Six states: I.\u00a0 Incomplete: the figures unfinished but extensively engraved, as are the shafts of the three columns and the temple at the sides and the aureole of light above.1 II.\u00a0 Inscribed at the lower left: Nobili […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":824,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3755","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3755","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=3755"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11113,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3755\/revisions\/11113"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}