{"id":4163,"date":"2012-04-05T16:20:29","date_gmt":"2012-04-05T20:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vassar.edu\/rosso\/?page_id=4163"},"modified":"2012-08-20T09:58:27","modified_gmt":"2012-08-20T13:58:27","slug":"e-81-fantuzzi-allegory","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/catalogues\/engravings\/e-81-fantuzzi-allegory\/","title":{"rendered":"E.81 Allegory on the Birth of Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

E.81 Fantuzzi, Allegory on the Birth of Christ<\/p><\/div>\n

Etching by Antonio Fantuzzi, 33.2 x 27.2 L (Paris).\u00a0 Inscribed, at the lower left in back of the woman kneeling at the left, with a monogram composed of joined letters: .<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>ATF<\/em>.<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Fig.E.81<\/a> (Paris)<\/p>\n

Bartsch, XVI, 1818, 336-337, 1, as Fantuzzi.\u00a0 Herbet, II, 1896, 281 (1969, 77), 38, as Fantuzzi after Rosso.\u00a0 Zerner, 1969, A.F.74 (Paris), as 1544-1545, after Rosso.<\/p>\n

COLLECTIONS: New York, 59.596.22 (foxed and cropped at the left).\u00a0 Paris, Eb 14d (full margin but slightly misprinted at lower left and right).<\/p>\n

LITERATURE:<\/p>\n

Kusenberg, 1931, 164, Pl. LXXX, 3 (Paris), as after Rosso.<\/p>\n

Panofsky, 1958, 50, 167-168, n. 28, as after Rosso.<\/p>\n

Zerner, 1964, 75, 77, and 80, Figs., as 1544-1545.<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1966, 180, n. 50, suggests that the old woman may be related to the similar figure in Rosso\u2019s painting in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

B\u00e9guin, RdA<\/em>, 1969, 105, suggests that the image is related to Rosso\u2019s painting in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Fagiolo dell\u2019Arco, 1970, Fig. 109 (detail), 492.<\/p>\n

Zerner, in EdF<\/em>, 1972, 271, 272, Fig. (Paris), 273, no. 325, as after Rosso, and in spirit similar to the Los Angeles painting.\u00a0 He also believes that the object held by the woman at the right is not an armorial shield, as the Panofskys thought, but rather a musical instrument or a vase.<\/p>\n

Zerner, in Fontainebleau<\/em>, 1973, I, 101, Fig. 75, II, 85, no. 325 (Paris).<\/p>\n

Eisler, 1973, 639-640, calls it a Nativity and refers to its Michelangelesque origins.<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1978, 34, 37, Fig. 19 (Paris), 40, 42, 47, n. 21.<\/p>\n

Zerner, IB<\/em>, 33, 1979, 221 (Paris).<\/p>\n

Borea, 1980, 262, no. 670 (Paris).<\/p>\n

L\u00e9v\u00eaque, 1984, 209, Fig. (Paris).<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1987, 31, 45, 308-309, no. 99, with Fig. (Paris), 310-315, under no. 100.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At least since Herbet catalogued this print, Rosso has always been recognized as the inventor of this composition.\u00a0 The composition is now also known from a drawing by Rosso of around 1537, sold at Sotheby\u2019s in 1969 (Fig.D.72<\/a>) and known to me only from a photograph.\u00a0 Fantuzzi\u2019s etching may be based on this drawing, or it may instead be derived from a second lost drawing of the same size but with a few different details.\u00a0 That the model from which Fantuzzi worked was of the dimensions and shape of the Sotheby\u2019s drawing seems indicated by the broken handle of the vase in the upper right of the print that is broken just at the place where this handle ends at the upper limit of the drawing.\u00a0 If this is the case, as seems likely also from an anonymous etched version of this composition (Fig.E.150<\/a>), then the upper part of the Fantuzzi print, including most of the two alcoves, the window, and the canopy of the bed, is an addition by the printmaker.\u00a0 Furthermore, he would have widened the composition somewhat at both sides, completing the outward arms of both the vase bearer and the nude old woman.\u00a0 Within the limits of the composition indicated by the drawing, the following differences can be found in the etching: the youth at the upper left wears a fur garment, the vase bearer has no drapery over any part of his torso, the top of the vase he carries is rounded rather than flat, Christ\u2019s genitals are not covered by drapery, there is no lion\u2019s head on St. John\u2019s urn, and the cross and banderole in the foreground are lying at a sharp angle to the picture plane.\u00a0 The canopy over the bed could have been designed by the etcher with reference to the one in Rosso\u2019s Madonna and Child with a Book<\/em>, known from Boyvin\u2019s engraving (Fig.E.15<\/a>); its flaps recall those of the canopy above the Virgin in Rosso\u2019s Annunciation<\/em> in Vienna (Fig.D.43a<\/a>).\u00a0 An almost identical round canopy appears in Rosso\u2019s Francis I Adoring the Enthroned Virgin<\/em> of around 1536 (Fig.D.69<\/a>).\u00a0 Hence, Fantuzzi would have enlarged the composition in sympathy with Rosso\u2019s own ideas as seen in other works by him that the etcher could have known.\u00a0 The absence of the lion\u2019s head on the vase could be an oversight, and the fur garment might actually be indicated in the Sotheby\u2019s drawing.\u00a0 The diagonal placement of the cross and banderole could be due to Fantuzzi\u2019s need to fill the bottom part of his plate, where there is slightly more space than in the known drawing, although the proposed lost drawing could have shown them in this position.\u00a0 The uncovered genitals of Christ and of the vase bearer seem to indicate that the original version of the composition showed these two figures totally nude, as may have been true of the Sotheby\u2019s drawing before it was retouched.\u00a0 Both of these figures are uncovered in the anonymous etching of this scene.\u00a0 In the print by Master I.\u2640.V. (Fig.E.100<\/a>), Christ\u2019s genitals are uncovered.<\/p>\n

The anonymous etching shows St. John wearing a wreath that also appears in the etching of this composition by Master I.\u2640.V.\u00a0 It would seem that this detail was in the drawing Fantuzzi used and was overlooked by him; leaves seem to be visible in the Sotheby\u2019s drawing.\u00a0 But the anonymous etching shows the breasts of the young woman in profile covered while in the other two prints and in the drawing they are bare.\u00a0 The drapery may be an addition of the anonymous etcher.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

OTHER VERSIONS OF THIS COMPOSITION, PRINTS: See E.100<\/a>.\u00a0 Master I.\u2640.V, etching (Fig.E.100<\/a>).\u00a0 Bartsch, XVI, 1818, 388-389, 32.\u00a0 Herbet, IV, 1900, 353 (1969, 203), 18.<\/p>\n

This print is generally thought to be derived from Fantuzzi\u2019s etching, but this cannot be its only source.\u00a0 It could also be dependent on the Sotheby\u2019s drawing by Rosso (D.72<\/a>).<\/p>\n

See E.150<\/a>.\u00a0 Anonymous, etching (Fig.E.150<\/a>).\u00a0 Herbet, IV, 1900, 353 (1969, 203), under no. 18, and Herbet, V, 1902 (1969, 215), 22.\u00a0 This print may be dependent on the same source used by Fantuzzi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Etching by Antonio Fantuzzi, 33.2 x 27.2 L (Paris).\u00a0 Inscribed, at the lower left in back of the woman kneeling at the left, with a monogram composed of joined letters: .ATF.. Fig.E.81 (Paris) Bartsch, XVI, 1818, 336-337, 1, as Fantuzzi.\u00a0 Herbet, II, 1896, 281 (1969, 77), 38, as Fantuzzi after Rosso.\u00a0 Zerner, 1969, A.F.74 (Paris), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":824,"menu_order":86,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4163","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4163","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=4163"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6611,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4163\/revisions\/6611"}],"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=4163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}