{"id":4409,"date":"2012-04-05T16:19:46","date_gmt":"2012-04-05T20:19:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vassar.edu\/rosso\/?page_id=4409"},"modified":"2013-02-21T17:30:13","modified_gmt":"2013-02-21T22:30:13","slug":"e-160-anonymous-hercules","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/catalogues\/engravings\/e-160-anonymous-hercules\/","title":{"rendered":"E.160 Figure Costumed as Hercules"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

E.160 Anonymous, Figure Costumed as Hercules<\/p><\/div>\n

Etching, Anonymous, 42.6 x 27.5 S (Paris, Ba 12).\u00a0 Inscribed at the lower left: Cum priuilegio Regis:<\/em>, and at the lower right: Rous \u2022 Floren \u2022 Inuen<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Fig.E.160<\/a> (Paris, Ba 12)<\/p>\n

Bartsch, XVI, 1818, 417, 103, as Anonymous, School of Fontainebleau, approaching the manner of Master L.D.\u00a0 Herbet, I, 1896, 83 (1969, 32), 60, as Master L.D., as proposed by Bartsch and repeated in the Destailleur catalogue, but Herbet is inclined to give it to Boyvin.<\/p>\n

COLLECTIONS: Paris, Ba 12, two impressions, one complete, the second with the lower left corner missing; Ed 3 (stamped at the lower right: D.3159<\/em>).\u00a0 Vienna, It.II.21, p.101.\u00a0 Washington (from New York, Hill-Stone, Inc.), in brown ink at upper right, a number, perhaps: 172<\/em>.<\/p>\n

LITERATURE:<\/p>\n

Kusenberg, 1931, 167, as Anonymous.<\/p>\n

Adh\u00e9mar, 1939, 257, as Paris, Ed 3, and as by Boyvin.<\/p>\n

Triomphe du Mani\u00e9risme<\/em>, 1955, 100, no. 137 (Paris), as Boyvin.<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1975, 25, 26, Fig. 12 (Vienna), 28, as a figure costumed as Hercules and as possibly related to the festivities at Fontainebleau for the visit of Charles V beginning 24 December 1539.<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1978, 36, 37, Fig. 20 (Vienna), as Hercules, after Rosso of around 1539.<\/p>\n

Zerner, IB<\/em>, 33, 1979, 379 (Paris, with corner missing).<\/p>\n

Borea, 1980, 263, no. 683 (Paris, Ba 12).<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1987, 10, 11, 40, 342-344, no. 107, with Fig. (Paris, Ba 12), as after a drawing by Rosso of 1539.<\/p>\n

Hill-Stone, Inc., Exhibition Checklist, New York Fine Print Fair, 1989, no. 5, as by L\u00e9on Davent, according to Henri Zerner, the subject given as A Priestess<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Brugerolles and Guillet, 1994, 108, under no. 37, as anonymous after Rosso.<\/p>\n

Acton, in French Renaissance<\/em>, 1994, 299, under no. 71.<\/p>\n

Mugnaini, 1994, 120, Fig. (Paris).<\/p>\n

Boorsch, in French Renaissance<\/em>, 1994, 262-263, no. 52, Fig. (Paris, Ba 12, Vol. 2), as by L\u00e9on Davent and surely dating from the 1550s when he was in Paris, the French privilege tending to indicate not earlier than the mid-1550s, although there is no certainty on this point, the publisher perhaps the enterprise of Milan and Boyvin, and possibly a fused reference to both Charles V and Francis I, the olive branch alluding to both rulers with the symbolic image of peace.<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1995, 303, noted that there are no other prints by Davent after Rosso, and that the lettering is exactly like that on the engravings of Milan and Boyvin, indicating perhaps that they made etchings at some time in their careers.<\/p>\n

Meyer, 1995, 299, mentions the relation to Hellenistic and Roman imperial coins and sculpture, where the skin of the Nemean lion is worn as a cloak with the head framing the wearer\u2019s face.<\/p>\n

This etching, which is described in various catalogues as a young woman, is a figure costumed as Hercules and carrying an olive branch as a staff instead of the usual club of olive wood.\u00a0 Stylistically, the costume resembles that of Rosso\u2019s Three Fates, Costume Designs<\/em> of around 1534, engraved by Milan (Fig.E.104<\/a>).\u00a0 But the Hercules costume is less complex and more elegantly sumptuous, and the whole figure is so much more eloquent, suggesting that it is a later invention.<\/p>\n

The style of the image, comparable in its seriousness to Rosso\u2019s Empedocles-St. Roch<\/em> (Fig.D.80a<\/a>), indicates a very late date in Rosso\u2019s career for it.\u00a0 It may have been designed for the festivities that accompanied Charles V\u2019s visit to Fontainebleau at the end of December 1539, perhaps for one of the \u201cpersonnes d\u00e9guis\u00e9es en forme de Dieux, et de Deesses boccageres\u201d that, according to Dan, 1642, 219, greeted the emperor as he approached the ch\u00e2teau (see Chapter X, L.48<\/a>, and L.49<\/a>).\u00a0 Or the Hercules costume could have been invented for some other event performed at Fontainebleau at the time of this visit.\u00a0 Charles V, like Francis I, was identified with Hercules, as we know from various sources, including Rosso\u2019s design of a silver statue of this god that was given to the emperor at the beginning of January 1540 (L.59<\/a>).\u00a0 Rosso\u2019s Dream of Hercules<\/em> (Fig.D.78a<\/a>) may also have been invented for Charles V\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n

The technique of the etching leads one to believe that it is based very closely on a lost drawing by Rosso, one similar to the Empedocles-St. Roch <\/em>and the Judith and Holofernes<\/em> (Fig.D.84a<\/a>).\u00a0 Because the figure holds the branch with his left hand, it may be in reverse of the lost drawing.<\/p>\n

In spite of Boorsch\u2019s apparent certainty that the print is by L\u00e9on Davent (Master L.D.), to my eye the Figure Costumed as Hercules<\/em> does not especially resemble his etchings.\u00a0 Nor is Davent known to have worked from any other image by Rosso.\u00a0 The print seems to be by the same etcher as the Draped Youth Leaning on a Block<\/em> (Fig.E.147<\/a>).\u00a0 As suggested under E.147, it is possible that this print is by an engraver who ventured into etching, possibly Milan or Boyvin, whose engravings are inscribed with the same kind of lettering and who worked frequently from Rosso\u2019s drawings.\u00a0 Herbet attributed it to Boyvin and it was attributed to him in the Triomphe du Mani\u00e9risme<\/em> exhibition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Etching, Anonymous, 42.6 x 27.5 S (Paris, Ba 12).\u00a0 Inscribed at the lower left: Cum priuilegio Regis:, and at the lower right: Rous \u2022 Floren \u2022 Inuen. Fig.E.160 (Paris, Ba 12) Bartsch, XVI, 1818, 417, 103, as Anonymous, School of Fontainebleau, approaching the manner of Master L.D.\u00a0 Herbet, I, 1896, 83 (1969, 32), 60, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":824,"menu_order":170,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4409","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4409","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=4409"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5642,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4409\/revisions\/5642"}],"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=4409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}