{"id":5003,"date":"2012-05-03T12:57:12","date_gmt":"2012-05-03T16:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vassar.edu\/rosso\/?page_id=5003"},"modified":"2013-05-22T13:30:10","modified_gmt":"2013-05-22T17:30:10","slug":"rene-boyvin","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/catalogues\/engravings\/rene-boyvin\/","title":{"rendered":"REN\u00c9 BOYVIN"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vasari\u2019s short account of Ren\u00e9 Boyvin\u2019s activity as an engraver in the second edition of the Lives<\/em> (1568, II, 308; Vasari-Milanesi, V, 433-434) connects this printmaker entirely with the reproduction of Rosso\u2019s designs:<\/p>\n

\u201cEd \u00e8 tant\u2019oltre proceduto quest\u2019uso, e modo di stampare, che coloro, che ne fanno arte tengano disegnatori in opera continuamente, i quali ritraendo cio che si fa di bello, le mettono in istampa.\u00a0 Onde si vede che in Francia son venute stampate dopo la morte del Rosso, tutto quello, che si \u00e8 potuto trovare di sua mano, come Clelia, con le sabine, che passano il fiume, alcune maschere fatte per lo Re Francesco, simili alle parche; una Nunziata bizzarra, un ballo di dieci femmine; e il re Francesco, che passa solo al tempio di Giove, lasciandosi dietro l\u2019Ignoranza, ed altre figure simili.\u00a0 E queste furono condotte da Renato intagliatore di Rame vivente il Rosso.\u00a0 E molte pi\u00f9 ne sono state disegnate ed intagliate doppo la morte di lui, ed oltre molte cose, tutte l\u2019istorie d\u2019Ulisse, e non che altro, vasi, lumiere, candelieri, salieri, ed altre cose simili infinite state lavorate d\u2019Argento con disegno del Rosso.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

All of the prints mentioned by Vasari except those of the \u201cistorie d\u2019Ulisse\u201d can be identified with existing engravings.\u00a0 And all except the Ulysses scenes and the Clelia<\/em> can be related to Rosso, although the prints of silverwork designs are probably not after Rosso\u2019s own inventions but only in his manner (RE.25-26).\u00a0 The Clelia<\/em> is after a design by Giulio Romano.\u00a0 The mention of Ulysses subjects may be a confusion on Vasari\u2019s part with what he thought in his \u201cLife\u201d of Rosso was painted by him in the Gallery of Francis I.\u00a0 Boyvin and his shop did engrave four or five scenes that appear in this room, one of which Vasari mentioned although not as related to the gallery.<\/p>\n

But even with these matters clarified Vasari\u2019s account is still to be questioned.\u00a0 In 1941, Metman showed that certain unsigned and unmonogrammed engravings that had long been thought to be by Boyvin are in fact by Pierre Milan.\u00a0 Of them, three would seem to have been thought by Vasari to be Boyvin\u2019s: the Clelia<\/em> after Giulio, and, more to the point here, the Three Fates, Costume Designs<\/em> (E.104<\/a>) \u2013 \u201calcune maschere fatte per lo Re Francesco, simili alle parche\u201d – and the Dance of the Dryads <\/em>(E.102<\/a>) \u2013 \u201cun ballo di dieci femmine.\u201d\u00a0 The last two prints were engraved by Milan in 1545.\u00a0 The Clelia<\/em> (Zerner, 1969, P.M. 6) was left incomplete and was finished by Boyvin by 15 February 1554.\u00a0 Milan was still alive on 12 January 1554, when he is recorded as renting two rooms for a year.<\/p>\n

Although Vasari did not know of Milan, his account of Boyvin\u2019s activity implies, nevertheless, the work of someone other than that printmaker alone.\u00a0 First Vasari said that Boyvin\u2019s prints were made \u201cdopo la morte del Rosso,\u201d and he repeated this later in his account. But he also said that some of Boyvin\u2019s prints were made \u201cvivente il Rosso.\u201d\u00a0 No information indicates that Boyvin was an engraver before November 1549 when he contracted to work for Milan for two years.1<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Milan is known to have been established as an engraver in Paris by August 1540, hence only shortly before Rosso died.2<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 It may be Milan\u2019s activity that Vasari had hint of, not knowing, however, that it was to be distinguished from Boyvin\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Of the prints mentioned by Vasari, only one, the \u201cre Francesco, che passa solo al tempio di Giove\u201d is fully signed by Boyvin: Renatus Fecit<\/em>.\u00a0 Boyvin also signed his prints with a monogram composed of the superimposed letters R<\/em> and B<\/em>.\u00a0 Many prints in his manner of engraving bear neither his name nor his monogram.\u00a0 In 1941, Levron catalogued the prints associated with Boyvin under two headings: as by Boyvin himself, if the prints were inscribed with his name or monogram, or as by the Shop of Boyvin if not signed in any way.\u00a0 In the following catalogue all the prints are placed together with comments on their differences placed in the text of each entry.\u00a0 It cannot, however, be verified now that the uninscribed prints are actually from Boyvin\u2019s shop.\u00a0 There is still a need for clarification here.\u00a0 Some of the prints might be ascribable to Milan, under whom Boyvin was trained in Paris.3<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 None of Milan\u2019s known prints is signed.\u00a0 The manner in which they are engraved can hardly be distinguished from what is generally recognized as Boyvin\u2019s.\u00a0 The possibility also exists that some of the prints were made by a still-unidentified engraver whose technique resembles his.<\/p>\n

For the Nymph of Fontainebleau<\/em>, begun by Milan and left incomplete in 1545, and finished by Boyvin between March 1553 and February 1554, see E.103, and under P.22, IV South.<\/p>\n

Six prints, which have been related to Boyvin, have, for various reasons, been catalogued more appropriately under Anonymous: Mars and Venus<\/em> (E.130<\/a>, also ascribed to Caraglio, and possibly by Jacob Bink), Two Groups of Three Putti<\/em> (E.139<\/a>), related to the framing of the Combat of Centaurs and Lapiths<\/em> in the Gallery of Francis I, Figure Costumed as Hercules<\/em> (E.160<\/a>, an etching), Holy Family with St. Anne<\/em> (E.161<\/a>, also given to Domenico del Barbiere), and Christ in a Niche I<\/em> (E.156<\/a>).\u00a0 A Scene of Sacrifice<\/em> (E.50<\/a>, as Delaune) has also been attributed to Boyvin.<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n

<\/a>1<\/sup> See Grodecki, 1989, 222-223, no. 869.\u00a0 Bimbenet-Privat and Le Bars, 1994, 153, conjectured that Boyvin settled in Paris c. 1545 and set up for himself around 1551.\u00a0 Herbet, III, 1899, 34-35 (1969, 122-123), tried to extend Boyvin\u2019s career back as early as 1537, but he is certainly mistaken.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/a>2<\/sup> See Grodecki, 1989, 221-222, nos. 866 and 867.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/a>3<\/sup> Metman (1941) did not state that Boyvin was Milan\u2019s pupil.\u00a0 Coming from Angers, where he may have been born c. 1520, it has been thought, by Robert-Dumesnil (VIII, 1850, 14) and by Levron (1941, 12), that Boyvin was trained by Simon Haye-Neufre before coming to Paris.\u00a0 Adh\u00e9mar (1953, 364) and Zerner (1964, 81) assumed that he was Milan\u2019s pupil in Paris even before Grodecki published the document that proves this to have been the case.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vasari\u2019s short account of Ren\u00e9 Boyvin\u2019s activity as an engraver in the second edition of the Lives (1568, II, 308; Vasari-Milanesi, V, 433-434) connects this printmaker entirely with the reproduction of Rosso\u2019s designs: \u201cEd \u00e8 tant\u2019oltre proceduto quest\u2019uso, e modo di stampare, che coloro, che ne fanno arte tengano disegnatori in opera continuamente, i quali […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":824,"menu_order":12,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5003","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5003","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=5003"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9172,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5003\/revisions\/9172"}],"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=5003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}