{"id":6964,"date":"2012-09-27T17:32:50","date_gmt":"2012-09-27T21:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/?page_id=6964"},"modified":"2013-06-05T15:07:45","modified_gmt":"2013-06-05T19:07:45","slug":"rd-16","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/catalogues\/rejected-paintings-sculpture\/rd-16\/","title":{"rendered":"RD.16 Meleager Offering the Head of the Caldyonian Boar to Atalanta"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

RD.16 Meleager<\/p><\/div>\n

Frankfurt am Main, St\u00e4delsches Kunstinstitut und St\u00e4dtische Galerie, inv. no. 4291.<\/p>\n

Fig.RD.16<\/a><\/p>\n

Pen and brown ink, gray and gray-brown wash, 22.8 x 48.5; indentations made with a stylus.<\/p>\n

PROVENANCE: Acquired by the museum before 1862.<\/p>\n

LITERATURE:<\/p>\n

Dimier, 1900, 482, as a copy of Fantuzzi\u2019s print after Rosso.<\/p>\n

B\u00e9guin, RdA<\/em>, 1969, 105, mentioned that there are several drawings of this composition, in particular the one in Frankfurt, the composition of which is probably Rosso\u2019s.<\/p>\n

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The composition of this drawing is the same as that of a reversed etching by Fantuzzi (Fig.RE.17<\/a>) that Bartsch and Herbet thought was after Primaticcio, although the latter stated that the design has been attributed to Rosso.\u00a0 Zerner thought it was after Rosso but that Fantuzzi had transformed its style in a manner resembling Primaticcio\u2019s.\u00a0 The museum attributes the drawing to Primaticcio.\u00a0 B\u00e9guin also thought the composition was Rosso\u2019s and the drawing a copy after one by him.<\/p>\n

The drawing has a few figures that recall several by Rosso.\u00a0 The central nude man holding the dogs resembles the figure (St. Joseph?) rushing forward in the center of Rosso\u2019s Allegory on the Birth of Christ<\/em> (Fig.D.72<\/a>), also etched by Fantuzzi (Fig.E.81<\/a>).\u00a0 Atalanta is somewhat similar to the figure of Fortune in the stucco roundel of the East Wall of the Gallery of Francis I, the composition of which is found in another etching by Fantuzzi (Fig.E.68<\/a>).\u00a0 At the lower left the winged figure appears as a more adult and reversed version of the putto in the foreground of Rosso\u2019s Death of Adonis<\/em> that Fantuzzi etched (Fig.E.76<\/a>).\u00a0 The figure of Envy at the lower right is similar to the same personification in Rosso\u2019s Pandora and Her Box<\/em> (Fig.D.67a<\/a>), and in Fantuzzi\u2019s print of it (Fig.E.79a<\/a>), although Rosso\u2019s figure looks more wretched.\u00a0 It should also be noted that the simple round band held above Atalanta\u2019s head is the kind of crown that would seem to have appeared in Rosso\u2019s drawings – see his Contest of Athena and Poseidon <\/em>as engraved by Boyvin (Fig.E.13<\/a>) – but that would be changed into a crown of leaves in the finished composition – as in Fantuzzi\u2019s etching of the Athena and Poseidon<\/em> composition (Fig.E.78<\/a>).\u00a0 Fantuzzi\u2019s etching of the Meleager<\/em> composition shows the simple band as in the Frankfurt drawing.<\/p>\n

Although the draughtsmanship of the Frankfurt drawing resembles that of some pen and ink and wash drawings by Rosso, the clumsy handling of the drawing could not be Rosso\u2019s.\u00a0 Other stylistic relationships to Rosso\u2019s art would seem also to indicate that he is the author of the composition.\u00a0 But the general ease or grace of the postures of the figures and of their arrangement in space is not characteristic of Rosso.\u00a0 The scene lacks the tension of such comparable crowded and dramatic compositions by him as the Death of Adonis<\/em> and the Allegory on the Birth of Christ<\/em>.\u00a0 Furthermore, what might be considered bizarre about the drawing is mitigated by a degree of realism and even idealism that does not point to Rosso.\u00a0 I believe the composition is by Primaticcio in a particularly Rossoesque phase, in the early 1540s most likely.\u00a0 It can be compared with several drawings by him from this decade.1<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 The Frankfurt drawing would be a copy of a drawing by Primaticcio.\u00a0 However, it is possible that the original drawing was done in the 1530s before Rosso died, although the evidence for this is not now available.\u00a0 In either case, the original drawing would have been done when Primaticcio was compelled to take on aspects of Rosso\u2019s more dramatic expression.\u00a0 The Frankfurt drawing, which shows stylus marks, could have been used as the model for Fantuzzi\u2019s etching, which Zerner dated 1544-1545.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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<\/a>1<\/sup> See EdF<\/em>, 1972, 140, Fig., 141, no. 150, Forge of Vulcan<\/em> (Fig.Primaticcio, Forge<\/a>), 144, Figs., 145, 147, nos. 155 (Fig.Paris Wounded<\/a>), and 156, (Fig.Masquerade at Persepolis<\/a>) and 146, Fig., 148, no. 159 (Fig.Primaticcio, Virgin, Queen of the Angels<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Frankfurt am Main, St\u00e4delsches Kunstinstitut und St\u00e4dtische Galerie, inv. no. 4291. Fig.RD.16 Pen and brown ink, gray and gray-brown wash, 22.8 x 48.5; indentations made with a stylus. PROVENANCE: Acquired by the museum before 1862. LITERATURE: Dimier, 1900, 482, as a copy of Fantuzzi\u2019s print after Rosso. B\u00e9guin, RdA, 1969, 105, mentioned that there are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":1357,"menu_order":116,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6964","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6964","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=6964"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9445,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6964\/revisions\/9445"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}