Giovanni Battista Galestruzzi (1619-c1678)
“The Soldiers
of Cyrus Attacking the Army of Spargabise” (MET title) (aka “The Soldiers
of Cyrus Tearing Apart the Army of Spargabise” [TIB title]; “Les soldats de
Cyrus taillant en pièces l'armée de Spargabise”; ), c1650 (1640–1660 [BM dates]),
plate 4 in the series, “Subjects from Roman History” [Havard title]), after Polidoro
da Caravaggio’s (aka Polidoro da Caravagio; Polidoro Caldara da Caravaggio;
Polidoro Caldara) (c1500–1536/7 [BM dates]) fresco on
the façade of the Palazzo Milesi in Rome—sadly the frescoes on the façade
have almost completely vanished by deterioration.
Etching on laid paper trimmed
with a thread margin around the image borderline and backed with a support
sheet.
Size: (sheet) 10.9 x 12.3 cm.
Inscribed on plate in lower
left tablet: “POLIDORO. INVENTORE. Gio. Batta. Galestruzzi 4/ fe.”
TIB 46 (21).6 (54) (Paolo
Bellini [ed.] 1982, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Italian Masters of the
Seventeenth Century”, vol. 46, Abaris Books, New York, p. 79, cat. no. 6[54]);
Bartsch XXI.54.6.
See the descriptions of this
print offered by the British Museum and the Harvard Art Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1856-1213-49;
https://hvrd.art/o/234737.
Condition: a strong and
well-printed impression, showing no sign of wear to the printing plate, trimmed
with a thread margin around the image borderline and laid upon a support sheet
of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. There is a minor restoration to
chipping at the upper left corner, otherwise the sheet is in excellent
condition with no tears, holes, folds, stains or foxing.
I am selling this historically
important etched frieze that is a surviving visual record of Polidoro da
Caravaggio’s now lost—in the sense of badly deteriorated—fresco on the façade
of the Palazzo Milesi in Rome, for the total cost of AU$287 (currently US$229.47/EUR188.08/GBP162.21
at the time of posting this print) including Express Mail (EMS) postage and
handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes
imposed by some countries.
If you are interested in
purchasing this small but visually arresting battle scene from the mid-1600s, please
contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal
invoice to make the payment easy.
Note that I have listed another three-panel etching by Giovanni Battista Galestruzzi that is currently available for the same price: https://www.printsandprinciples.com/2018/11/giovanni-battista-galestruzzis-etching.html.
This print has been sold
