Enea Vico, (right fragment) “Statues of Minerva and a Woman”, 1541

Enea Vico (1523–1567)
(Right fragment) “Statues of Minerva and a Woman,” 1541

Technical Details & Condition:
Engraving on laid paper, trimmed around the right figure of a larger composition (see https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_V-8-52), depicting two archaic sculptures—the left figure representing the goddess Minerva—and backed with a support sheet.

The artist’s name is inscribed within the plate, featuring his initials “E.V” on the tablet at right, along with the publisher’s initials “A. S.” for Antonio Salamanca (1478–1562), and the date of publication, “1541,” lettered along the lower edge of the sheet.

The impression is strong and well-printed. The sheet, as a fragment of a larger composition, shows some restored losses along the edges and minor stains, consistent with its age and fragmentary nature.

Dimensions:
• Sheet: 23.5 x 90 cm

References:
• TIB 30.44 (John Spike [ed.], The Illustrated Bartsch: Italian Masters of the Sixteenth Century: Enea Vico, vol. 30, 1985, New York, Abaris Books, p. 61, cat. no. 44)
• The British Museum: Same fragment of the larger composition — https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_Ii-5-76

Price & Shipping:
AU$288 (approximately US$200.01 / €169.59 / £147.61), including worldwide express shipping. Import duties and taxes are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you are interested in acquiring this rare 1541 engraving of an ancient sculpture—possibly representing Urania, the muse of Astronomy, though her defining attributes of a celestial globe and compass are now lost—please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I am happy to provide a secure PayPal invoice for a seamless purchase.

This print has been sold 

Johann Jacob von Sandrart, “Candlestick with Two Caryatids”, 1675, after Enea Vico

Johann Jacob von Sandrart (aka Johann Jakob von Sandrart) (1655–1698)

“Candlestick with Two Caryatids” (aka “Chandelier, don’t le manche offre deux caryatides” [Bartsch title]), 1675, after Enea Vico (1523–1567) (TIB 30.491) with the design of the caryatid figures possibly based on the design by Marcantonio Raimondi (1470/1482–1527/1534) after Giulio Romano (c.1499–1546), after Raphael (1483–1520) (see https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0822-56 [inv. 1868,0822.56]), published in 1675 in Nuremberg by Jacob von Sandrart and in Frankfurt am Main by Matthäus Merian II (1621–1687) as an illustration to Joachim von Sandrart’s “Teutsche Academie der Edlen Bau- Bild- und Mahlerey-Künste …” (German Academy of the Noble Arts of Architecture, Sculpture and Painting…), with impressions of this print on page 65 (see https://archive.org/details/gri_33125008279545/page/n237/mode/2up) and page 376 (see https://archive.org/details/gri_33125008279545/page/n737/mode/2up).

Engraving on fine laid paper with letterpress text verso, trimmed with a small margin and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 20.8 x 16.8 cm; (plate) 20.1 x 15.8 cm; (image borderline) 20.1 x 15.6 cm.

Inscribed in plate in six lines of German in two columns (upper edge): “Hier, Iugend, geh zur Schule,/ und mit der Musa buhle,/ die sich Antike nennt./ Was Neues man erfindet,/ sich in dem Alten gründet:/ die Kunst man so erkennt.// Wan soll ein Künstler sehen:/ diss Liecht muss ihm aufgehen,/ sonst ist u. bleibt er blind./ Der Leuchter ist gestellet:/ wer sich zu ihm gesellet,/ und ämsig sucht, der findt.”

([Google transl.] “Here, youth, go to school,/ and woo Musa,/ who calls herself antiquity./ Whatever new is invented,/ is founded on the old:/ thus one recognizes art.// When should an artist see:/ this light must dawn on him,/ otherwise he is and remains blind./ The lampstand is set:/ whoever joins it,/ and diligently seeks, will find.”)

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression. The sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, abrasions or significant stains—there is however, minor toning from the text printed verso—and is laid onto a support of millennium quality washi paper providing wide margins.

I am selling this marvellous engraving executed in 1675 of a candlestick holder featuring classical motifs (viz. classically draped women posed as caryatids standing on a pedestal decorated with festoons hanging from bucrania) for AU$263 (equivalent to approximately US$169.06, EUR 146.55, or GBP 126.21 at the time of listing) and includes Express Mail Service (EMS) postage and handling to any worldwide destination. Please note that any import duties or taxes levied by the destination country are the responsibility of the buyer and are not included in the purchase price. Payment is requested in Australian dollars (AU$263).

If you are interested in purchasing this very beautiful engraving, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold

Enea Vico’s engraving, “Giovanni Battista Gelli”, c.1548

Enea Vico (1523–1567)

“Giovanni Battista Gelli” (aka “Portrait of Poet and Philosopher Giovan Battista Gelli” [Rijksmuseum title]), c.1548, after a medal design by Antonio Francesco Doni (1513-1574), from the aborted series of ten portraits engraved by Vico between 1547 and 1550, “Le Medaglie del Doni Fiorentino” (The Medals of the Doni Fiorentino), published in Venice, c.1550.

Engraving on laid paper trimmed unevenly around the image borderline.

Size: (sheet) 15.3 x 11.3 cm.

Inscribed on plate: (below the image borderline at left) “Enea da Parma invent. fac.”; (around the centre medallion) “M.GIO.BATISTA GELLI ACADEMICO FIOREN”; (in the lower round cartouche) “Medaglia/ del Doni/ n. 61.”

TIB 30.246 (355) (John Spike [ed.] 1985, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Italian Masters of the Sixteenth Century: Enea Vico”, vol. 30, New York, Abaris Books, p. 162, cat. no. 246 [335]); Bartsch XV.335.

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Bust portrait of Giovanni Battista Gelli facing right set within an elaborate cartouche”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1862-0208-118).

See also the description of this print (no image) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/370651?searchField=All&sortBy=Relevance&ft=Enea+Vico&offset=80&rpp=80&pos=89;

and at the Rijksmuseum:

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.188421.

Condition: excellent impression, near faultless in the portrait cartouche, but with slightly abraded areas towards the outer edges. The sheet is appropriately age-toned/darken for a Renaissance period print with restoration patches verso reinforcing holes and thin areas in the sheet.

I am selling this lifetime impression (based on the crisp line quality) of a Renaissance period engraving, featuring a portrait of Giovanni Battista Gelli (1498–1563)—a leading Florentine poet, shoemaker, philosopher, consul and a founding member of the Accademia Fiorentina in which he wrote a commentary on the language of Adam in the XXVI canto of Dante 's “Paradise”—following the likeness of Gelli shown on medal designed by Antonio Francesco Doni, for the total cost of AU$437 (currently US$285.78/EUR262.97/GBP229.50 at the time of this listing) including 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 strong engraving executed and possibly pulled from the press in Michelangelo’s lifetime, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy. (My apologies for all faults in my understanding of what is illustrated in this scene.)

This print has been sold

Enea Vico's engraving, “Statue of Hermaphroditus in a Niche”, 1552

Enea Vico (1523–1567) according to the British Museum and the Museum Boijmans or an anonymous artist as proposed by the Rijksmuseum.

“Statue of Hermaphroditus in a Niche” (descriptive title only) (aka “Hermaphroditos”), 1552, after Marcantonio Raimondi’s (1470/1482–1527/1534) engraving, “Apollo” and its repetition in reverse (TIB 26[14].332[250] & 333[251]), after a sculpture that was once in the collection of the Palazzo Farnese (as inscribed on plate), from the series, “'Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae” (Mirror of Roman Splendour), published by Antoine Lafréry (aka Antonio Lafreri) (1512–1577) in Rome.

The Rijksmuseum offers the following insights into the series “Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae”, in which this print features:

(transl.) “This corpus, consisting of prints with representations of works of art and buildings from ancient and modern Rome, originated from publishers Antonio Salamanca and Antonio Lafreri. These two foreign publishers joined forces in Rome in the period 1553-1563. Their prints quickly became extremely popular with tourists and collectors, who purchased the prints individually or in large groups. Large groups of Speculum prints were often bound together in albums upon request. There are several Speculum albums that are all different in content. Between 1573 and 1577 Antonio Lafreri published a special title page (with the title 'Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae') that people could add to their collections. The death of Lafreri in 1577 did not mean the end of the corpus. A large part of the copper plates passed to Claudio and Stefano Duchetti. The rest was spread over various other publishers. The popularity of the Speculum prints managed to inspire publishers for a long time to have copies made and to add new prints to the corpus.” (RP-P-H-H-925)

Engraving on fine laid paper trimmed unevenly along the image borderline and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 33.5 x 21.4 cm.

Inscribed on plate on pedestal base cartouche: “HERMAPHRODITI STATVA .../ … PALLATIO FARNESIANO COLLOCATA / ANT LAFRERII FORMISS ROMAE MDLII.”

Huelsen 56–A (Christian Huelsen 1921, “Das Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae des Antonio Lafreri”); Rubach 320 (Birte Rubach 2016, “Ant. Lafreri Formis Romae: Der Verleger Antonio Lafreri und seine Druckgraphikproduktion”, Berlin, Lukas Verlag, p. 415).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Statue of a youth identified as Hermaphroditos by the inscription, standing in contrapposto within a niche, right hand raised above head, left hand resting on a support. 1552 Engraving”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1514911&partId=1&searchText=Enea+Vico&page=4)

See also the description of this print offered by Museum Boijmans:

https://www.boijmans.nl/en/collection/artworks/129772/hermaphroditus

See also the description offered by the Rijksmuseum that attributes this print to an anonymous artist:

“Image of a male nude with an arm above the head. In the inscription, this figure is interpreted as Hermaphroditus, but the figure is also very similar to the Apollo Lyceus type.”

(http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.210351)

Condition: well-printed crisp impression in a generally clean condition, trimmed along the image borderline with replenished losses and laid upon a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this Renaissance period engraving dated on the plate, “MDLII” (1552)—most likely a lifetime impression based on the crisp quality of the lines showing no sign of wear to the printing plate—for AU$412 (currently US$284.73/EUR255.14/GBP223.65 at the time of this listing) including 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 rare and (to my eyes) a curiously exciting print, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold

Enea Vico’s engraving, “Candlestick with a Faun and a Bacchante”, 1552

Enea Vico (1523–1567)

Note: TIB lists this print (30.493-Copy [368]) as a copy after the original print by Enea Vico (30.494 [368]), but current opinion has reversed the attribution and this print is now viewed to be the original and the print catalogued by Bartsch as the original is now viewed as the copy. See the curator of the BM’s comment for the candlestick BM no. Nn,7.16.6.

“Candlestick with a Faun and a Bacchante”, 1552, plate 4 from a series of four designs for candlesticks (Note that there is actually five designs in the series but the fifth plate is unnumbered but bears the publisher’s Salamanca's address (see BM no. 1873,0111.68)

Engraving on laid paper (with water mark) trimmed along the image borderline

Size: (sheet) 25.1 x 17.8 cm

Hand-inscribed in brown ink at lower-right corner: “4” (Note: I suspect that the hand inscription is to “replace” the missing plate number where the sheet has been damaged)

Berlin 1939 1126 (under Vico) (P Jessen 1939, “Katalog der Ornamentstichsammlung der Staatlichen Kunstbibliothek Berlin”, Berlin); Guilmard 1880/1 289.24 (under Vico) (Désiré Guilmard 1801, “Les Maitres Ornemanistes: Écoles Française, Italienne, Allemande et des Pays-Bas (Flamande et Hollandaise)”, Paris, E Pron et Cie); TIB 30.493-Copy (368]) (John Spike & Walter L Strauss [Eds.] 1985, “The Illustrated Bartsch:Italian Masters of the Sixteenth Century [Enea Vico]”, New York, Abaris Books, p. 330); Bartsch XV.368.494 (as copy after Vico) (Adam Bartsch 1803, “Le Peintre graveur”, 21 vols, Vienna)

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Plate 4: candlestick decorated with mascarons and, below, a figurative scene representing a youth and a bacchante playing music. 1552 Engraving”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1514535&partId=1&searchText=enea+vico+candlestick+&page=1)

Condition: an exceptionally rare early impression (based on the lack of wear to the plate) trimmed along the image borderline. The upper and lower right corners are missing and have been restored. The sheet shows signs age toning appropriate to a print that is close to 500 years old. There may be areas of light abrasion but the tonal unevenness in the image—especially in the treatment of the background—is very similar to the unevenness exhibited in the copy reproduced in TIB (1985) p. 330.There are pencil notations, two collectors’ ink stamps and remnants of mounting hinges (verso).

I am selling this Renaissance period engraving that has excited many contemporary scholars to verify who the real master is that executed it—currently the argument and evidence points to one of the truly great masters, Enea Vico—for AU$349 (currently US$267.64/EUR229.65/GBP202.94 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this finely executed engraving that embodies the spirit of the Renaissance in the use line and subject portrayed, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold

Sometimes the gate-keepers of history change their minds about the attribution on artworks. This is certainly the case with this elegant engraving of a candlestick holder. What makes it “special” in terms of a change in attribution is that the evidence is simply that the line-work is too good to be a copy of an engraving by the great Renaissance master, Enea Vico. As a corollary, what was once considered to be the original engraving by Vico of the candlestick holder is now relegated to being the copy of this print. The reason: the exhibited line-work in the former “original” Vico is too perfunctory to be by the hand of the master. Fascinating!

(The curator of the British Museum outlines the dispute with appropriate citations in reference to another candlestick holder from the same series: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1514546&partId=1&searchText=Nn,7.16.6&page=1)

If I may contribute my own thoughts regarding the attribution, I agree with the scholars who believe that this is the original Vico, but my reason is slightly different to the inherent quality of the draughtsmanship. Based on the convention that arose during the Renaissance period of portraying subjects lit from the top-front-left and that engraved plates were based on preliminary drawn studies, the engraving which to my mind is likely to be the original is the one that is a mirror image of the lighting convention because the printing process “reverses” images: this print.