{"id":994,"date":"2011-06-09T12:35:38","date_gmt":"2011-06-09T16:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vassar.edu\/rosso2\/"},"modified":"2013-06-04T16:25:04","modified_gmt":"2013-06-04T20:25:04","slug":"the-west-wall","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/catalogues\/paintings\/p-22\/the-west-wall\/","title":{"rendered":"P.22 West Wall"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

P.22 The West Wall<\/p><\/div>\n

Fig.P.22, WestWall, a<\/a> bw, whole wall
\nFig.P.22, WestWall, b<\/a> stucco right
\nFig.P.22, WestWall, c<\/a> bw, stucco right
\nFig.P.22, WestWall, d<\/a> bw, stucco left
\nFig.Paneling West Wall<\/a><\/p>\n

The center decoration of this wall and all the wood paneling were destroyed in the seventeenth century when the present doorway was built, beginning in 1639. Rosso\u2019s upright oval oil panel painting of Venus and Cupid<\/em> (and Psyche?) disappeared at this time.1<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Originally the missing stucco decoration must have resembled what was on the East Wall as known from d\u2019Orbay\u2019s drawing (see above). \u00a0But it was probably not identical to that decoration. \u00a0The nineteenth century painting above the door is copied from Boyvin\u2019s engraving of Rosso\u2019s Contest of Athena and Poseidon<\/em> (see above under \u201cEast Wall,\u201d and E.13<\/a>). \u00a0The stucco above it is of the seventeenth century or later.2<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 It should be noted that the two side panels of this wall are not of the same width, the one on the left being slightly wider (with three panels of wainscoting beneath while there are only two and a small strip at the right side; B\u00e9guin and Pressouyre, \u201cCadre architectural,\u201d 1972, p.20, p.21, Fig. 21, wrongly as East Wall; Fig.Paneling West Wall<\/a>).<\/p>\n

PRINTS: E.68. \u00a0Fantuzzi, Fortune giving Drink to a Young Prince<\/em> (E.68<\/a>). \u00a0This etching shows, in reverse, the scene of the round stucco relief on the right side of this wall. \u00a0But there are many differences that indicate that the print was not copied from the relief. \u00a0The architecture in the background is entirely different, Fortune has a band under her breasts in the relief, no drapery under her but a length of drapery flying out behind her that is unlike what is seen in the etching. \u00a0Fortune\u2019s wheel is also designed differently. \u00a0The tops of the prince\u2019s boots \u2014 although his toes are visible \u2013 have long pieces of what look like fur hanging from them in the etching while the relief shows a much simpler cut decoration. \u00a0The etching is probably based on a lost drawing by Rosso, the composition of which was altered in a later drawing used by the stuccoer.<\/p>\n

E.56,1. \u00a0Du Cerceau, Cartouche with embracing children<\/em>. \u00a0Herbet stated that this print, which I have not seen, is related to the decoration of the West Wall.<\/p>\n

E.57,1. \u00a0Du Cerceau, Cartouche framing an upright blank oval with a standing woman at the left and a nude man at the right, each with a shield at the side and a garland hanging from above and falling over their outside shoulders<\/em>. \u00a0This cartouche could be related to what originally appeared in the center of the West Wall, assuming that Du Cerceau may have made modifications.<\/p>\n

E.149. \u00a0Anonymous, Oval cartouche framing Mars and Venus viewed by Vulcan<\/em> (E.149<\/a>). \u00a0The embracing putti at the bottom of the cartouche are related to those beneath the roundels of the West Wall.<\/p>\n

COPY, DRAWING: Paris, Biblioth\u00e8que de l\u2019Institute, ms. 1015, fol 4, left half of a sketch (Fig.Percier drawing 2<\/a>). \u00a0Charles Percier, Copy of the right half of the wall<\/em>. \u00a0Watercolor. \u00a0\u201cGalerie,\u201d\u00a0RdA<\/em>, 1972, 33, Fig. 47, 34, 43, no. 47. \u00a0This drawing of around 1800 shows the wall with, it seems, Poerson\u2019s Victory Crowning Francis I<\/em> of around 1710 over the door which in the nineteenth century was replaced by the Contest of Athena and Poseidon<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/a>1<\/sup>B\u00e9guin, in La Renaissance<\/em>, Quebec, 1984, 327, no. 196, with Fig., suggested that a drawing of Two Vases and a Leg<\/em> in a private collection might be related to Rosso\u2019s lost Venus and Cupid<\/em>. \u00a0But the details of the vases do not seem to me to be of the kind that Rosso used (see note under RP.17<\/a>).<\/p>\n

<\/a>2<\/sup> On the somewhat complicated history of this wall, see Herbet, II, 1896, 277-278 (1969, 73-74) under 26; Herbet, 1937, 183-185, where Rosso\u2019s painting is given as a fresco; Zerner, 1972, 115; Pressouyre, \u201cCadre architectural,\u201d 1972, 15; and Lossky, 1974, 48, 50-51, and ns. 19 and 20; and B\u00e9guin, 1989, 830. \u00a0Lossky\u2019s suggestion that Vasari was mistaken in his indication that a panel painting was in the center of this wall is certainly wrong. \u00a0Much of the decoration of this wall survives to indicate that originally it resembled the East Wall known from d\u2019Orbay\u2019s drawing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fig.P.22, WestWall, a bw, whole wall Fig.P.22, WestWall, b stucco right Fig.P.22, WestWall, c bw, stucco right Fig.P.22, WestWall, d bw, stucco left Fig.Paneling West Wall The center decoration of this wall and all the wood paneling were destroyed in the seventeenth century when the present doorway was built, beginning in 1639. Rosso\u2019s upright oval […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":908,"menu_order":23,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-994","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/994","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=994"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9316,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/994\/revisions\/9316"}],"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=994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}