| Method | Etching |
| Artist | Pietro Santi Bartoli |
| Published | Petrus Sanctus Bartolus del. et sculp. Io. Iacobæ de Rubeis formis Romæ ad Templum Pacis cum Priv. S. Pont. [1693] |
| Dimensions | Image 126 x 419 mm, Plate 151 x 422 mm, Sheet 362 x 472 mm |
| Notes |
A depiction of a Roman relief sculpture of the death of Meleager, Plate 69 from Bartoli's Admiranda Romanarum Antiquitatum (1693). The panel depicts the death of the Greek hero Meleager, following the famous Calydonian Boar Hunt. Meleager, son of the King of Calydon, led a band of heroes to hunt and kill a monstrous boar, that had been terrorising the city of Calydon because of a slight given to the goddess Artemis by Meleager's father Oeneus. Among the heroes was Atalanta, a virgin huntress, whom Meleager immediately fell in love with. After the hunt, Meleager chose to present the boar's hide to Atalanta, as, of all the assembled heroes, she had struck the beast first. An argument ensued because of his decision, and in the scuffle, Meleager defended Atalanta by slaying a number of the other heroes, including his brother and uncle. Upon hearing of the news, Meleager's own mother engineered his death, by burning a brand that the Fates had decreed would end Meleager's life with its final flame. At the far left of the scene, Meleager's mother, Althea, can be seen placing the fatal brand into the flames, shielding her face from the heat of the fire. The two women on the left are the Furies, dire goddesses invoked by acts of transgression like the murder of one's own family. In the centre of the scene, the dying Meleager is laid out on a low couch, his sword and gorgon-emblazoned shield abandoned nearby. His weeping sisters try in vain to awaken their brother with magical herbs, while on the extreme right, the maiden huntress Atalanta shields her face in sorrow at the death of her champion, her hunting dog beside her. The relief, probably from a Roman sarcophagus, is listed by Bellori as having been displayed at the time of publication in the collections of a certain Aedes de Valle, probably the Palazzo Valle of the famous art collector and antiquarian, Cardinal Andrea della Valle. della Valle had inherited a large collection of Roman marble sculpture from his family's estates, and grew to be one of the most significant collectors of Roman art during the early sixteenth century. His house was enlarged to accommodate his collections by the architect Lorenzetto Lotti, who created a loggia-style courtyard garden, influenced by the Vatican's Belvedere Cortile. The collection, presented in the rus in urbe manner popular in the Roman imperial period, was a great inspiration to 16th century visitors, particularly Martin van Heemskerck and Hieronymus Cock, who both produced drawings and engravings of the courtyard and significant pieces of della Valle's collection. By the time of Bartoli's publication, most of the collection had been purchased by the Medici family, where is was displayed along with the rest of their collections in the gardens of the Villa de Medici. Scenes of the death of Meleager were popular subjects in the Roman period, particularly in funerary art. The hunt itself gave the sculptor an almost unparalleled mythic subject for exploring dynamic movement in a scene featuring numerous figures. The pathos of Meleager's death meanwhile provided an appropriate stimulus for reflection upon the vicissitudes of life. Similar compositions to that depicted can be seen on a number of Roman sarcophagi, including examples in the Louvre, the Getty Museum, and the Uffizi. The Admiranda Romanarum Antiquitatum ac Veteris Sculpturae Vestigia Anaglyphico Opere Elaborata ex Marmoreis Exemplaribus was one of a number of illustrated volumes on antiquarian subjects published by the prolific de Rossi family. The work featured 83 etched plates by the antiquarian and engraver, Pietro Santi Bartoli, depicting examples of Roman relief sculpture, all of which Bartoli had viewed and studied in the various papal and aristocratic collections across Rome. Like many of Bartoli's works, the plates of the Admiranda Romanarum Antiquitatum included commentary and notes by the celebrated antiquarian, Giovanni Pietro Bellori, with whom Bartoli enjoyed a long and fruitful academic partnership. The work was dedicated by the publishers to Cardinal Flavio Chigi, nephew of Pope Alexander VII and a member of the powerful Chigi family, who had died in September 1693, the same year as its publication. Cardinal Chigi had been a close friend of Bartoli's patron, Queen Christina of Sweden. His position in such a powerful papal family had also been beneficial to engravers and publishers, particularly those with an interest in classical architecture. Alexander VII had been one of the great 'builder' popes, whose term had endowed Rome with numerous churches, public fountains, gardens, and palazzi in the rococo style, as well as encouraging the excavation, documentation, and in some cases, restoration, of the monuments of the classical era. Many of the relief sculptures depicted in the Admiranda Romanarum Antiquitatum had been rediscovered in these excavations, and were quickly added to the collections of the Chigi family and their peers. Pietro Santi Bartoli (1635 – 7th November 1700) was an Italian draughtsman, architect, antiquarian, and engraver. Born in Perugia, Bartoli apprenticed with Jean Lemaire and Nicholas Poussin. Although he would give up painting following Poussin's death to focus on engraving, the classical scenes that were the speciality of Poussin and Lemaire were probably responsible for the young Bartoli's interest in classical subjects. In collaboration with the antiquarian Bellori and the publishers Giovanni and Domenico de Rossi, Bartoli produced a number of works documenting the art, architecture, history, and culture of ancient Rome. Of particular note are his series of 128 etchings depicting details of the frieze on the Column of Trajan, and a number of plates of Roman monuments after Giacomo Lauro that were published by Domenico de Rossi in his Romanae Magnitudinis Monumenta in 1699. Condition: Minor time toning to edges of sheet, not affecting image. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £100.00 |
| Stock ID | 40692 |