{"id":991,"date":"2011-06-09T12:35:07","date_gmt":"2011-06-09T16:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vassar.edu\/rosso2\/"},"modified":"2013-06-04T16:25:16","modified_gmt":"2013-06-04T20:25:16","slug":"the-east-wall","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/catalogues\/paintings\/p-22\/the-east-wall\/","title":{"rendered":"P.22 East Wall"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Cross-section of the gallery showing the East Wall<\/p><\/div>\n

Fig.d\u2019Orbay drawing a<\/a> detail
\nFig.d\u2019Orbay drawing b<\/a> whole
\nFig.EastWall, c<\/a>
\nFig.Northeast, d<\/a> bw, northeast corner
\nFig.Southeast, e<\/a> bw, southeast corner<\/p>\n

Rosso\u2019s upright oval oil painting of Bacchus, Venus, and Cupid<\/em>, that occupied the center of this wall was removed and apparently destroyed in 1701.1<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 The other decoration was totally destroyed and replaced in or shortly after 1757 at which time the alignment of the wall was changed to square it with the north and south walls (Fig.EastWall, c<\/a>; Fig.Northeast, d<\/a>; Fig.Southeast, e<\/a>).2<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 The stuccoes at the east end of the north and south walls were damaged and remade. \u00a0Other slight changes were made in 1784 and 1785; the plaster bust of Francis I was made in 1836 (Herbet, 1987, 181-183).<\/p>\n

A drawing by d\u2019Orbay of 1682 (see below) gives a view of the original East Wall. \u00a0The lost oval painting measured c. 2.15-2.30 m. high.3<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>Because it is just possible that Rosso\u2019s composition of the Contest of Athena and Poseidon<\/em> may have had a place on this wall the prints of this scene and a drawing related to it are listed below.<\/p>\n

PREPARATORY DRAWING: D.57 (COPY). \u00a0Paris, Ensba, no. 1626 verso<\/em>. \u00a0Design for the stucco frame of an oval picture<\/em> (D.57<\/a>). \u00a0This pen and ink and wash drawing shows, with variations, the center of the East Wall as it appears in d\u2019Orbay\u2019s drawing (see below). \u00a0The schematic rendering of the entablatures is the kind of architectural abbreviation that appears in Rosso\u2019s drawings. \u00a0In d\u2019Orbay\u2019s drawing the proportions of this section of the East Wall are slightly different and a full entablature is placed higher and fully across the top with the two corner masks and the central lion\u2019s head placed above it. \u00a0The supporting figures appear to have been identical in the gallery and not different as they are in the drawing. \u00a0The drawing, too coarse to be an autograph drawing by Rosso, seems to be a copy of a lost drawing by him. \u00a0Its design was changed in the gallery primarily because of a miscalculation of the height of this section of the decoration.<\/p>\n

PRINTS: E.67. \u00a0Fantuzzi, Frame<\/em> (E.67<\/a>). \u00a0This etching shows approximately the same composition as that of the copy of the lost drawing (see above) with the male and female figures reversed. \u00a0There are a few differences: the entablatures are finished, the motifs on the blocks beneath the entablatures are different, the volutes at the top and bottom are larger, and there is a basket of fruit on the lion\u2019s head above. \u00a0The standing figures are also described differently; both have pillows on their heads and act as supports to the architecture above; the woman holds or presses her breasts and has a lion at her feet; the man has a finger over his lips and with the other hand points to the center blank framed area; there is an urn at his feet. \u00a0On the block beneath the woman is a shield in front of crossed torches; beneath the man is an eagle holding a thunderbolt in its beak. \u00a0The woman would seem to be Opis although the motif beneath her is not associated with this goddess. \u00a0If the urn at the man\u2019s feet is a wine vessel or pitcher he could be identified with Bacchus. \u00a0But beneath him is the eagle and thunderbolt of Zeus. \u00a0These details do not appear in d\u2019Orbay\u2019s drawing except possibly the pillows on the figures\u2019 heads. \u00a0But these pillows, and other details, suggest that Fantuzzi was working from a second drawing by Rosso other than the one represented by the copy in the Ensba.<\/p>\n

One of Du Cerceau\u2019s Petits Cartouches (E.57,11<\/a>) is copied from this etching by Fantuzzi.<\/p>\n

E.56,3. \u00a0Du Cerceau,\u00a0Frame<\/em> (E.56,3<\/a>). \u00a0This etching is related, with variations, to the panel at the right as it appears in d\u2019Orbay\u2019s drawing (see above) or to the left panel if the etching is considered reversed. \u00a0However, the print shows two putti seated on top of the central round area that do not appear in the drawing. \u00a0The etching could have been based on a lost drawing by Rosso. \u00a0But the print cannot be considered a wholly faithful transcription of that drawing as Du Cerceau\u2019s prints in general tend to exhibit a rather free attitude toward their sources. \u00a0Nevertheless, the etching does seem to give evidence of a lost study that may have been slightly different from what was executed in the gallery. \u00a0It is, of course, possible, that the etching is based on a lost print by Fantuzzi, or someone else, which in turn goes back to a lost drawing.<\/p>\n

One of Du Cerceau\u2019s Petits Cartouches (E.57,6<\/a>) seems derived from this larger etching by him.<\/p>\n

DRAWING, COPY: Paris, Archives nationales, Departement des Cartes et Plans, Versement d\u2019architecture, album 60, plan X, elevation and cross-section at the top, Fran\u00e7ois d\u2019Orbay, Cross-section of the gallery showing the east wall<\/em>, pen and ink and wash (Fig.d\u2019Orbay drawing a<\/a>; Fig.d\u2019Orbay drawing b<\/a>). \u00a0According to Pressouyre, \u201cCadre architectural,\u201d 1972, 15, the drawing was done in 1682. \u00a0Laprade, 1960, 236-240, spoke of d\u2019Orbay\u2019s work at Fontainebleau as occupying especially the years 1676-1682. \u00a0McAllister Johnson, 1984, 134, Fig. 1, gave the date of the drawing as 1676; Bottineau, 1962, 21, n. 28, gave 1682. \u00a0B\u00e9guin, 1989, 830, Fig. 21, 831, as 1682.<\/p>\n

Contest of Athena and Poseidon<\/span><\/em> <\/em><\/p>\n

It is possible that Rosso\u2019s Contest of Athena and Poseidon<\/em>, known from a partial copy of a lost drawing by Rosso and from prints by Fantuzzi and Boyvin (see below) may have had a place on the East Wall (see Carroll, 1987, 302-303). \u00a0Boyvin\u2019s engraving was used as the model for the nineteenth century painting over the door in the West Wall, but the scene originally had no place on this wall. \u00a0The Panofskys (1958, 120, 176, n. 112) thought that this scene might have been designed in relation to the ex utrogue Caesar<\/em> ideal of Francis I as shown in the Enlightenment of Francis I<\/em> (L\u2019Ignorance chass\u00e9e<\/em>). \u00a0But the victory of Athena over Poseidon might be more closely related to the Venus and Minerva<\/em> and therefore might have been used for one of the horizontal \u00a0(stucco?) scenes \u2013 the left one, probably \u2013 above one of the circular (painted?) scenes on the East Wall. \u00a0Here it could have been seen in conjunction with the nearest large fresco on the north wall, the Venus and Minerva<\/em>. \u00a0The horizontal areas in d\u2019Orbay\u2019s drawing look a little longer than needed for the scene as represented by Fantuzzi\u2019s etching and perhaps also for the scene in the slightly longer engraving by Boyvin. \u00a0But d\u2019Orbay\u2019s drawing could be wrong here or Rosso\u2019s scene, when executed in the gallery, could have been slightly altered to fit the area to receive it, as was done with the relief of Cimon and Pero<\/em> under the Cleobis and Biton<\/em> (see under V S). \u00a0The style of the Contest of Athena and Poseidon<\/em> suggests a date around 1536, about the same time as Rosso\u2019s Pandora and Her Box<\/em> drawing (D.67<\/a>).<\/p>\n

PREPARATORY DRAWING: D.66 (COPY). \u00a0Paris, Biblioth\u00e8que Nationale, Ed.3 (D.66<\/a>). \u00a0This drawing seems to be a copy of the left end of a lost drawing by Rosso showing Poseidon, the rearing horse, and the river goddess and tritons.<\/p>\n

VARIATION, DRAWING: See under D.66. \u00a0Paris, Louvre, Inv. no. 8738 (Fig.Paris, 8738<\/a>). \u00a0This drawing is a free adaptation of Rosso\u2019s composition based apparently upon the prints by Fantuzzi and Boyvin, and\/or from a third source that showed details of both. \u00a0The drawing is in the same direction as these prints, and hence in reverse of the copy of the lost drawing by Rosso (see above). \u00a0But the urn behind the reclining river god in the Louvre drawing has almost the same shape as the one in the copy making it seem possible that the draughtsman of the Louvre drawing also knew Rosso\u2019s lost drawing.<\/p>\n

PRINTS: E.78. \u00a0Fantuzzi, (E.78<\/a>). This etching seems to have been derived from a lost drawing by Rosso partially preserved by a copy (D.66<\/a>) showing the scene in reverse as the principle gestures of the main figures are made with the left arm (see also below).<\/p>\n

E.13. \u00a0Boyvin, (E.13<\/a>). This engraving is in the same direction as Fantuzzi\u2019s etching but is slightly longer at the left and lower at the top. \u00a0Two columns with high bases are visible behind Mercury and almost the entire body of Victory is seen above. \u00a0There is no hill behind Athena. \u00a0Victory\u2019s crown is merely a schematic band and the architecture at the right has unmodulated cornices, details that characterize some of Rosso\u2019s drawings. \u00a0At the far right there is an armless bald statue in a niche. \u00a0Unlike Fantuzzi\u2019s etching the engraving shows water at the lower right. \u00a0There are also other small differences in detail. \u00a0It is likely that Boyvin\u2019s print goes back to another drawing by Rosso earlier than the one used by Fantuzzi that was apparently more finished. \u00a0Boyvin\u2019s print shows water at the lower right which the engraver could have added to emphasize the identity of Poseidon although the scene shows his gift of the horse and not of sea water. \u00a0Fantuzzi\u2019s etching shows the cast shadows of Athena\u2019s spear and Poseidon\u2019s fork which do not appear in Boyvin\u2019s print. \u00a0Details of this print are related to those in the drawing in the Louvre that shows a variation of this scene (see above). \u00a0For example, the wreath held by Victory is a simple band in both. \u00a0But the Triton at the far right in the engraving has spikes of some kind in his hair that are not found in Fantuzzi\u2019s etching nor in the partial copy of the lost drawing by Rosso (see above). \u00a0That copy and Fantuzzi\u2019s etching also show more hair blowing behind Poseidon\u2019s face than appears in Boyvin\u2019s engraving.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/a>1<\/sup>See B\u00e9guin, 1969, 831. \u00a0As the painting does not appear in d\u2019Orbay\u2019s drawing of 1682 (on which see below), it is possible that it was destroyed by that time. \u00a0On a painting on canvas of Bacchus, Venus, and Cupid<\/em>, in the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Histoire et d\u2019Art in Luxembourg that B\u00e9guin related to Rosso\u2019s lost painting, see RP.17<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>2<\/sup> See Pressouyre, \u201cCadre architecutural,\u201d 1972, 15, and Bottineau, 1962, 85, n. 105, and 160, Doc. 70.<\/p>\n

<\/a>3<\/sup> The somewhat faulty proportions of d\u2019Orbay\u2019s drawing do not make it possible to measure accurately the void where the painting would have been. \u00a0The painting extended from the top of the wood paneling to approximately the upper level of the large frescoes in the gallery, a distance, calculated from the drawing, that is about 2.17 m. \u00a0Its replacement, Boulogne le Jeune\u2019s Flora and Zephyr<\/em>, still at Fontainebleau, measures 230 x 170 or 179 (see B\u00e9guin, 1969, 830, Fig. 20, 831), where the painting is dated 1702; see also Am\u00e9d\u00e9e de Caix de Saint-Aymour, Le Boullongne<\/em>, Paris, 1919, 264, no. 375, as of 1700.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fig.d\u2019Orbay drawing a detail Fig.d\u2019Orbay drawing b whole Fig.EastWall, c Fig.Northeast, d bw, northeast corner Fig.Southeast, e bw, southeast corner Rosso\u2019s upright oval oil painting of Bacchus, Venus, and Cupid, that occupied the center of this wall was removed and apparently destroyed in 1701.1\u00a0 The other decoration was totally destroyed and replaced in or shortly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":908,"menu_order":22,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-991","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/991","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=991"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1954,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/991\/revisions\/1954"}],"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=991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}