{"id":950,"date":"2011-06-09T12:22:41","date_gmt":"2011-06-09T16:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vassar.edu\/rosso2\/"},"modified":"2013-06-04T16:26:49","modified_gmt":"2013-06-04T20:26:49","slug":"iii-north-the-revenge-of-the-nauplius","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/catalogues\/paintings\/p-22\/iii-north-the-revenge-of-the-nauplius\/","title":{"rendered":"P.22 III North: Revenge of Nauplius"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

P.22 III North: The Revenge of Nauplius<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/strong>The central fresco: c. 1.67 x c. 2.53 m.<\/p>\n

Fig.P.22, III N a<\/a> whole wall
\nFig.P.22, III N b<\/a> bw, whole wall<\/p>\n

The appearance of the flanking decoration of this wall before the mid-nineteenth century restoration of the gallery is recorded in two drawings, by Percier and Viollet-le-Duc (see below). \u00a0Originally beneath the formerly lower placed beams at the upper left and right, just below where there are now small rectangular stucco plaques, there was at the left a man\u2019s head with wings (in Percier\u2019s drawing) and at the right a baby\u2019s head with wings (Viollet-le Duc drawing). \u00a0The small flat area below the man\u2019s head was blank and painted yellow when Percier made his drawing and it might be assumed that the same was the case at the other side of the wall; pairs of putti painted in oil were placed there in the nineteenth century. \u00a0It is not known what originally was in each area at the bottom of the wall where there is now a painted putto also in oil done in the nineteenth century. \u00a0There is noted in Percier\u2019s drawing, where this area at the left is given a bluish wash, that what was there was effaced, indicating perhaps that originally something was depicted here and in the matching area at the right. \u00a0The other drawing shows the area at the right with striations as though its painted surface had deteriorated. \u00a0Pressouyre, \u201cRestaurations,\u201d 1972, 34, thought it unlikely that the upper areas were originally empty, and Dan, 1642, 92, said these areas, meaning, it would seem, those at the top and the bottom, showed infants painted on a gold ground. \u00a0These paintings may have crumbled because of their ground. \u00a0It is possible that the existing putti are there because the nineteenth century restorer read Dan.<\/p>\n

PREPARATORY DRAWING: D.59<\/a>\u00a0(COPY). \u00a0Besan\u00e7on, Mus\u00e9e des Beaux-Arts, D.3116. \u00a0The Revenge of Nauplius<\/em>. \u00a0This precisely executed pen and ink line drawing is a copy of a lost drawing by Rosso with the probable washes, and perhaps also highlights, eliminated. \u00a0In the drawing the flying hair of some of the figures and the design of the prows of some of the ships are different from what appears in the fresco. I n the drawing Nauplius\u2019s genitals are rather dramatically exposed, while they are covered by drapery in the painting. \u00a0The exposure of the genitals could have been intended to emphasize the fact of the loss of his heir, the issue of Nauplius\u2019s loins, and hence also make more obvious the dynastic implications of the decoration of this wall. \u00a0Apropos of the interpretation of this scene, as considered in Carroll, 1987, 238-241, only one beacon tower is shown lit in the drawing.<\/p>\n

PRINTS: E.59<\/a>. \u00a0Du Cerceau, Design for the Decoration of a Cup or Bowl<\/em>. \u00a0The exposure of Nauplius\u2019s genitals in this print indicates that it was derived from Rosso\u2019s lost drawing, or a copy of it, such as that at Besan\u00e7on (D.59), and not from Fantuzzi\u2019s print of the Revenge of Nauplius<\/em>.<\/p>\n

E.71<\/a>. \u00a0Fantuzzi, The Revenge of Nauplius<\/em>. \u00a0This etching is in reverse of the fresco and the drawing in Besan\u00e7on; it is not, however, directly based on either of them. \u00a0Nauplius\u2019s genitals are covered in the print but his hair is long and blowing back as in the drawing and not tightly curled as in the fresco. \u00a0The prows of the ships are also different from those in the drawing and painting, and there are a variety of other small differences as well. \u00a0But in one respect the print is significantly unlike the fresco and the drawing. \u00a0In the latter two depictions the permanent lighthouse of the port is placed in the middle of the water and there is nothing farther back but the distant horizon of the sea. \u00a0In the etching it is set on rocks beyond the harbor and has a range of high rocks and mountains behind it. \u00a0There are also a large number of ragged rocks in the foreground of the etching that do not appear in the drawing or fresco. \u00a0So crowded is the etching with landscape forms that the sea or harbor is barely visible.<\/p>\n

As many details in the print, such as bald heads, blowing hair and the anatomical drawing of the figures, suggest that it is based on a lost drawing by Rosso, the place of that drawing within the sequence of compositions for this scene has to be determined. \u00a0The composition of the etching must come first. \u00a0The Besan\u00e7on drawing shows a clarified scene with rocks removed, the harbor opened-up, the permanent lighthouse placed in the water, and the difference between the open sea and harbor and the dangerous rocks made more evident. \u00a0Wishing to be more explicit, Rosso also exposed Nauplius\u2019s genitals. \u00a0The wooden lighthouse built by Nauplius is also made bigger. \u00a0A cartoon would have followed from the original of this drawing to produce the scene executed in the gallery. \u00a0Then Nauplius\u2019s genitals were covered up again, and his hair was made short and curly. \u00a0Furthermore, the permanent lighthouse became smaller and apparently farther back. \u00a0Because of this change, the spaciousness of the expanse of sea in the middle distance looks even greater in the fresco than in the drawing in Besan\u00e7on.<\/p>\n

COPIES, DRAWINGS: Darmstadt, Hessisches Landesmuseum, inv. no. AE 553. \u00a0The<\/em> Revenge of Nauplius<\/em> (Fig.P.22Copy, Darmstadt<\/a>). \u00a0Red chalk, 21.2 x 33. \u00a0LITERATURE: R. Schoch, Peter Paul Rubens und sein Kreis. Zeichungen aus der Graphischen Sammlung des Heissischen Landesmuseums<\/em>, Darmstadt, 1977, 30, no. 42, as by Van Thulden. \u00a0Wood, 1990, 9, 16, Fig.13, 46, n. 41, as by Abraham van Diepenbeeck. \u00a0Alain Roy, in Theodoor van Thulden<\/em>, 1991, 52, Fig.13, 53, as by Van Thulden. \u00a0Copy of the fresco.<\/p>\n

Paris, Louvre, Inv. 1596. \u00a0The Revenge of Nauplius <\/em>(Fig.P.22Copy, Paris 1596<\/a>). \u00a0Pen and ink and wash, heightened with white (oxidized), 20.8 x 30.5. \u00a0LITERATURE: Kusenberg, 1931, 149, no. 19, as a copy of Rosso\u2019s fresco. Barocchi, 1950, 141, as a copy of the fresco. \u00a0B\u00e9guin and Pressouyre, 1972, 129, after the fresco. \u00a0Wilson-Chevalier, 1982, 16, n. 43, as an anonymous copy after Rosso\u2019s fresco. \u00a0Scailli\u00e9rez, 1992, 132, n. 2, under no. 57, as a copy of Rosso\u2019s composition. \u00a0Copy of the fresco and probably of the seventeenth century.<\/p>\n

Paris, Biblioth\u00e8que de l\u2019Institute, ms. 1015, Vol. 2, fol. 4, lower left sketch. \u00a0Charles Percier, Copy of the left side of the wall<\/em>. \u00a0Watercolor. \u00a0\u201cGalerie,\u201d RdA, 1972, 33, Fig. 48, 34, 43, n. 46 (Fig.Percier drawing 1<\/a>). \u00a0The drawing of around 1840 shows the stuccoes before the elevation of the beam and the destruction of the stucco head of a man with wings immediately beneath it. \u00a0In the area beneath this head is written: jaune<\/em>; in the area below the niche is written: efac\u00e9<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Genevi\u00e8ve Viollet-le-Duc Collection. \u00a0Eug\u00e8ne Viollet-le-Duc, Copy of the right side of the wall<\/em> (Fig.Viollet-le-Duc drawing 1<\/a>). \u00a0Drawing done in 1834. \u00a0Lossky, 1970, 203-208, Fig. 5. \u00a0Lossky, \u201cCinq dessins,\u201d 1970, 192-193, Pl. XX, 2. \u00a0The drawing shows the stuccoes before the elevation of the beam and the destruction of the putto\u2019s head with wings and a small hanging element in stucco immediately under the beam. \u00a0Beneath this head the small wall area is blank; the small area below the niche is also without any configuration although it contains striations that resemble marble veining but which could instead show scraped plaster.<\/p>\n

COPIES, PRINTS: E.89<\/a>. \u00a0Antoine Garnier, The Revenge of Nauplius<\/em>. \u00a0This seventeenth century engraving, in reverse of Rosso\u2019s painting, is derived from the fresco with some omissions, such as the fire pot atop the wooden lighthouse and some minor changes such as the long blowing hair of the oarsman. \u00a0However, it does not appear to be based on the copy of the fresco in the Louvre (see above).<\/p>\n

Wilson-Chevalier, 1982, 8, 10, Fig. 6, 12, noted the use of figures of Rosso\u2019s composition in the scene of Les Enfers<\/em>, in Michel de Marolles\u2019s\u00a0Les Tableaux du Temples des Muses<\/em>, Paris, 1655, after a drawing by Van Diepenbeck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The central fresco: c. 1.67 x c. 2.53 m. Fig.P.22, III N a whole wall Fig.P.22, III N b bw, whole wall The appearance of the flanking decoration of this wall before the mid-nineteenth century restoration of the gallery is recorded in two drawings, by Percier and Viollet-le-Duc (see below). \u00a0Originally beneath the formerly lower […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":908,"menu_order":12,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-950","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/950","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=950"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9327,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/950\/revisions\/9327"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}