{"id":3761,"date":"2012-04-04T14:08:01","date_gmt":"2012-04-04T18:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vassar.edu\/rosso\/?page_id=3761"},"modified":"2012-08-17T09:40:21","modified_gmt":"2012-08-17T13:40:21","slug":"e-3-alberti-agony","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/catalogues\/engravings\/e-3-alberti-agony\/","title":{"rendered":"E.3 Agony in the Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

E.3 Alberti, Agony in the Garden, II<\/p><\/div>\n

Engraving by Cherubino Alberti, 41.2 x 28.1 P, 37.9 x 27.9 L with 3.1 margin L to P (New York Public).<\/p>\n

Five states:<\/p>\n

I. With no inscriptions in area of image or in margin below.<\/p>\n

I bis. Inscribed in the middle at the bottom of the area of the image: Rubeus florentinus Inuen .<\/sup><\/strong><\/em>, and in the lower right corner the cipher of Alberti, below which is the date: 1574<\/em>.\u00a0 (The existence of this state may be implied by Bartsch.)<\/p>\n

II.\u00a0 Inscribed with Rosso\u2019s name, as in I bis, and at the lower right: Cum priuilegio Sni <\/sup>D .<\/sup><\/strong> N .<\/sup><\/strong> grec.p.p.xiii-<\/em> followed by the cipher of Alberti, below which is the date: 1574<\/em>.<\/p>\n

III.\u00a0 Also inscribed with: Romae<\/em> before the date.<\/p>\n

IV.\u00a0 Inscribed with Rosso\u2019s name as in I bis and II, and at the lower right: Sni<\/sup>D.N.PP. Vrbani. viij<\/em>, followed by the cipher of Alberti and below it slightly to the left: Romae. 1628<\/em>.\u00a0 Inscribed in the margin below: Illmo<\/sup> Principi Francisco S.R.E. Cardinali Barberino ——Cherubini Alberti Haeredes ex animi sententia. dant, donant et dicant<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Fig.E.3<\/a> (State II, Florence)<\/p>\n

Heinecken, I, 1778, 95 (1574 and 1628).\u00a0 Bartsch, XVII, 1818, 56, 17 (State IV with a remark suggesting the above state I bis).\u00a0 Le Blanc, 1854-1890, I, 8, 31 (States I and IV).<\/p>\n

COLLECTIONS: Berlin, 223-20 (III).\u00a0 Florence, Marucelliana, Vol. XIII, no. 33 (I); Vol. XXXII, no. 30 (II).\u00a0 Florence, 1573ss (II).\u00a0 London, 1874-8-8-488 (IV).\u00a0 New York Public, MERH (III).\u00a0 Paris, Eb 13 (III).\u00a0 San Francisco, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts (II).\u00a0 Vienna, It.I.37, p.14, bottom left (III), top right (IV); It.II.21, p.68 (III), p.69 (IV).<\/p>\n

LITERATURE:<\/p>\n

Kusenberg, 1931, 157, 159, as Alberti after Rosso.<\/p>\n

De Witt, 1938, 32, as Alberti after Rosso.<\/p>\n

Borea, 1980, 251, 252, no. 634, as Alberti after a drawing by Rosso done 1527-1530.<\/p>\n

Buffa, I.B.<\/em>, 34, 1982, 135 (Vienna, IV).<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1987, 41, 156-159, no. 53, with Fig. (New York Public).<\/p>\n

Franklin, 1988, 326, no. 53, suggested that the background was added by Alberti.<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1989, 17, Fig. 34 (Florence).<\/p>\n

Franklin, 1994, 256-259, Pl. 206 (Florence), after a drawing by Rosso, not before mid-1528, the elaborate landscape possibly by Alberti, as well as the drapery, hairstyles, and facial expressions; the design possibly made for the Benedictines of the Badia of Sante Flora e Lucillo in Arezzo, a commission that was later given to Soggi.<\/p>\n

Brilli, 1994, 27, Fig. (State II), reproduced across from a print of Piero della Francesca\u2019s Dream of Constantinople<\/em> in S. Francesco in Arezzo apparently to compare the angel in it to that in Rosso\u2019s composition.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Alberti\u2019s cipher on this print certainly guarantees his authorship of it and the inscription to Rosso is supported by the style of the image.\u00a0 The Michelangelesque apostles recall the figures in Rosso\u2019s Allegory of the Immaculate Conception <\/em>(Fig.D.31<\/a>; Fig.D.32<\/a>), designed for S. Maria delle Lagrime in Arezzo in 1528-1529, while the radiance of light around Christ reminds one of that in Rosso\u2019s Allegory of the Virgin<\/em> (Fig.D.33Aa<\/a>), made for the same project in 1529.\u00a0 Christ\u2019s wide sleeves are quite like those of several figures in his Last Supper <\/em>of around 1529 (Fig.D.40A<\/a>).\u00a0 One apostle\u2019s crossed arms resemble Eve\u2019s in Rosso\u2019s Allegory of the Immaculate Conception <\/em>of 1529-1530 in St. Petersburg (Fig.D.39<\/a>).\u00a0 The kinds of figures in the drawing and the kind of both physical and mystical image that is made of its subject suggest Rosso\u2019s early composition for his Christ in Glory<\/em>, designed in the summer of 1528 (see Fig.D.27A<\/a>; Fig.D.27B<\/a>; Fig.D.28<\/a>; Fig.D.29<\/a>).\u00a0 Sufficient stylistic evidence indicates not only that the design of this engraving is by Rosso but also that his design was made in 1528 or 1529.<\/p>\n

One detail of the scene suggests that the composition was designed in Arezzo.\u00a0 The strongly foreshortened angel flying into the scene may well be inspired, as suggested by Brilli, 1994, by the angel in Piero della Francesca\u2019s Dream of Constantinople<\/em>, which is also a night scene of a visionary experience illuminated by an extraordinary light (Fig.Piero<\/a>).\u00a0 Although Rosso visited Arezzo in March or April of 1528, he did not actually settle there until later that year.\u00a0 On 24 November he received the commission for the S. Maria delle Lagrime frescoes (see Preface to D.31-D.34<\/a>).\u00a0 Stylistically, the Agony in the Garden<\/em> comes closest to the designs that Rosso made for S. Maria delle Lagrime and to related drawings such as the Aretine Madonna della Misericordia<\/em> of 1529 (Fig.D.35a<\/a>).\u00a0 It might have been engraved from one of those drawings to which Vasari refers when he says that \u201cessendo persona cortese, [Rosso] fece molti designi in Arezzo e fuori, per pitture e fabriche…\u201d\u00a0 Busy with the S. Maria delle Lagrime project, it is doubtful that Rosso was already making such drawings in the last weeks of 1528 and hence a date in 1529 is more likely for the Agony in the Garden<\/em>.\u00a0 Its similarity to the Lagrime Allegory of the Immaculate Conception<\/em> may indicate that it was done rather early in 1529, before the Allegory of the Virgin<\/em> and the Throne of Solomon<\/em> (Fig.D.34<\/a>) also done for the Lagrime project.<\/p>\n

With the angel in the engraving extending the chalice to Christ with his left hand, it is likely that Rosso\u2019s drawing is reversed here.\u00a0 It is possible that Alberti, who was from Borgo Sansepolcro, obtained the drawing directly from the person for whom Rosso made it, or from the heirs of that person.\u00a0 Engraved in Rome in 1574, the print is one of Alberti\u2019s earliest.<\/p>\n

Franklin thought that the background may have been added by Alberti, as in the case of Alberti\u2019s engraving of Rosso\u2019s Stoning of St. Stephen<\/em> (Fig.E.2b<\/a>).\u00a0 But the setting in the Agony in the Garden<\/em> is required by its subject.\u00a0 That the details of the landscape and clouds, of faces and drapery, and the character of the light rays resemble elements in other prints by Alberti, as Franklin indicated, is only to be expected as the result of Alberti\u2019s translation into his engraver\u2019s manner of Rosso\u2019s draughtsmanship, and from a drawing that one would suppose was not made as a disegno di stampa<\/em>.\u00a0 Nevertheless, the imagery of this visionary scene and its eucharistic meaning are due to Rosso.<\/p>\n

Franklin defended his suggestion that Alberti is responsible for the landscape by saying that \u201cno such landscapes by Rosso are otherwise known.\u201d\u00a0 But landscapes play a significant and necessary role in the so-called Fury<\/em> (Fig.E.18a<\/a>) and the Challenge of the Pierides<\/em> (Fig.E.25b<\/a>) that Rosso designed and Caraglio engraved in Rome.\u00a0 The evidence of the four drawings that survive for the Gods in Niches<\/em> (Fig.D.17A<\/a>; Fig.D.17B<\/a>; Fig.D.17C<\/a>; Fig.D.18a<\/a>) indicates that Rosso provided Caraglio with complete disegni di stampe<\/em> from which to make the engravings.\u00a0 The six Labors of Hercules<\/em> did not require extensive landscapes, but two, Hercules Shooting Nessus<\/em> (Fig.E.20<\/a>) and Hercules Killing the Hydra<\/em> (Fig.E.21<\/a>), show the artist\u2019s skill in providing them.\u00a0 The situation was different with Alberti\u2019s Agony in the Garden<\/em>, as Rosso\u2019s drawing was not made to be engraved.\u00a0 Nevertheless, it is most likely that Rosso\u2019s lost drawing from which the print was made contained a landscape sufficiently well defined to meet the requirements of the story it tells, however much Alberti may have elaborated its details.\u00a0 The use of light in the scene has a history that goes back in Rosso\u2019s art at least to the Deposition<\/em> of 1521 (Fig.P.9a<\/a>) and the extraordinarily illuminated Marriage of the Virgin <\/em>of 1523 (Fig.P.13a<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Engraving by Cherubino Alberti, 41.2 x 28.1 P, 37.9 x 27.9 L with 3.1 margin L to P (New York Public). Five states: I. With no inscriptions in area of image or in margin below. I bis. Inscribed in the middle at the bottom of the area of the image: Rubeus florentinus Inuen ., and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":824,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3761","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3761","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=3761"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6532,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3761\/revisions\/6532"}],"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=3761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}