Engravers and Etchers: Six Lectures Delivered on the Scammon Foundation at the Art Institute of Chicago, March 1916 — John Shaqi
Engravers and Etchers: Six Lectures Delivered on the Scammon Foundation at the Art Institute of Chicago, March 1916Carrington, Fitz Roy
History
Engravers and Etchers: Six Lectures Delivered on the Scammon Foundation at the Art Institute of Chicago, March 1916
Carrington, Fitz Roy
Engraving -- History; Etching -- History
In the first plate, Cupid, the blind archer, with flame-tipped arrow,
is poised upon a ball rising from a flaming vase, the base of which,
in its turn, rests upon flame. Jupiter(?), chained, is seated in the
front of the car, while Samson, bearing a column, walks upon the
further side. Four prancing steeds draw the car; behind, Love’s victims
follow in endless procession. In the second plate, _Chastity_ stands
upon an urn; in front of her kneels Cupid, still blindfolded, with his
broken arrow beside him. Two unicorns, symbols of chastity, draw the
car, while upon the banner borne by the maiden at the extreme right
there appears the symbolic ermine. Then follow in order the Triumphs of
_Death_, of _Fame_, of _Time_, and of _Eternity_.
This series of illustrations reappears, somewhat modified and
simplified, in the form of woodcuts, in the editions of the _Trionfi_
published in Venice in 1488, 1490, 1492, and in Florence in 1499.
We have already referred to the _Evangelists and Apostles_ engraved by
the German, Master E. S. of 1466. It is from him that the anonymous
Florentine engraver borrowed his figures, in many cases leaving
the form of the drapery unchanged but enriching it with elaborate
designs in the manner of Finiguerra. The Prophet _Ezekiel_ is thus
compounded of _St. John_ and _St. Peter_, while _Amos_ is copied in
reverse from _St. Paul_. The seated figure of _Daniel_, in its turn,
is derived from Martin Schongauer’s engraving, _Christ Before Pilate_,
but the throne upon which he is seated is strongly reminiscent of the
Picture-Chronicle, and likewise recalls Botticelli’s early painting of
_Fortitude_. The _Tiburtine Sibyl_ is derived from _St. Matthew_, who,
in changing his position, has likewise changed his sex. The precedent
thus established has been followed by _St. John_, transformed into the
_Libyan Sibyl_ in the Fine Manner, with the addition of a flying veil,
to the right, copied from the _Woman with the Escutcheon_, also by the
Master E. S. In the Broad Manner print the figure of this Sibyl gains
in dignity by the elimination of much superfluous ornament upon her
outer garment, and from the fact that she now sits in a more upright
posture, the Fine Manner print still suggesting the crouching attitude
of its Northern prototype. It is to the influence, if not to the hand,
of Botticelli that such improvement is most likely due.
The twenty-four _Prophets_ and the twelve _Sibyls_, engraved both
in the Fine and in the Broad Manner of the Finiguerra School, are
individually and collectively among the most delightful productions
of Italian art. It was doubtless as illustrations of mystery plays or
pageants in Florence that this series of engravings was designed,
and we are able to reconstruct from the _Triumphs of Petrarch_, and
from these prints, a Florentine street pageant at its loveliest.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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