Manuscript in good condition, the ink has corroded several lines of text, paper eroded in places; all holes have been skilfully repaired. An interesting manuscript on grey-blue paper containing the earliest translation in Italian vernacular — made by the Dominican Leandro Alberti — of the Vaticinia pontificum , the mystical prophecies traditionally attributed to the Calabrian abbot Joachim of Fiore ca.
The Vaticinia may have had Byzantine origins, but by the late thirteenth century the prophecies were being disseminated by Joachimite disciples and were associated with his authorship. It is the most important apocalyptic work of the Middle Ages, and the manuscript was widely circulated. The text of the Vaticinia pontificum was produced in two stages.
The older set consists of fifteen prophecies, substantially Latin translations of the Greek Oracles composed by Leo the Wise which had been in circulation since about the time of Pope Benedict XI's death in In the second half of the fourteenth century, another fifteen similar prophecies were produced. From the early fifteenth century onward these two series, along with their related images, commonly circulated together, the more recent series generally placed before the older one to keep the future predictions further from the present. Each prophecy follows a canonized scheme composed of four elements: In the Bolognese Dominican Leandro Alberti — the well-known author of the popular Descrittione di tutta Italia see no.
Alberti's edition appeared in print in Bologna in July under the title Ioachimi abbatis Vaticinia circa apostolicos viros et Ecclesiam Romanam , and is his first published work. The booklet was issued from the press of Girolamo Benedetti simultaneously with the Italian vernacular edition of the text Prophetia dello abbate Ioachino circa li Pontifici et R. Both editions had obtained the imprimatur from the Inquisition, despite the nature and content of the prophecies bordering on the fringes of heresy and the occult. The Bolognese edition of the Prophetia dello abbate Ioachino is illustrated with thirty woodcuts which only partially follow the traditional illustrative apparatus found in the manuscript tradition of the Vaticinia as they are lacking the names of the popes depicted in the emblematic images.
A second edition of Leandro's translation was published in Venice in by an anonymous printer employing a different set of woodblocks, including two additional illustrations not belonging to the traditional Vaticinia series. The first illustration is here painted on the verso of the first leaf and shows a friar at a desk — evidently Joachim of Fiore — preaching to his confreres.
The second illustration depicts an unidentified monk with a halo giving a book entitled Vitae Patrum to four monks on his right, as well as an untitled book to four nuns on his left in contrast, in the Venetian Prophetia both books are entitled Vitae Patrum. The subsequent thirty illustrations belong to the traditional Vaticinia series, but — as in the aforementioned printed editions — the scheme is composed of only three elements: In this manuscript, however, the sequence of emblematic illustrations does not always follow that found in the Venetian publication.
The mottos and the mystical prophecies accompanying each illustration are substantially identical to those included in the publication of , with a few minor orthographical variants. Flore , composed likewise by Alberti fols. Both printed editions of of are of the greatest rarity, and extant copies can be counted on one hand. The Bolognese as well as the Venetian Prophetia dello abbate Ioachino were apparently printed in a limited number of copies, a feature which might explain the enduring manuscript circulation of this prophetical work during the age of printing.
A Study in Joachimism , Oxford ; D. Millet, Il libro delle immagini dei papi. Storia di un testo profetico medievale , Roma ; F.
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Giacchino da Fiore e il Gioachimismo attraverso la storia , Bari ; A. Leandro Alberti e l'ambiente umanistico a Bologna. Libro de estudios , Madrid ; R. Atti della giornata di studi per Albano Biondi , Verona , pp. Foliation in pencil, corresponding neither to the number of leaves nor their respective position within the album. Twenty-two miniatures in full colour with occasional use of gold and silver. One miniature with a paper flap fol. Headings written in gold, in a regular antiqua capitalis hand. Mid-twentieth-century dark blue morocco, signed by the Italian binder Bernasconi.
Title lettered on the spine, inside dentelles. Three paper flyleaves at beginning and end, marbled pastedowns and first flyleaves. In a modern marbled slipcase. Most miniatures in fine condition, only minor rubbing, two miniatures fols. The album is composed of twenty-two miniatures, painted on the recto of each leaf versos blank. While the first two miniatures fols. A fascinating manuscript containing twenty-two fine, full-colour miniature drawings of Italian costumes for men and women of different social ranks, scenes of local life, ceremonies, and characters from the Commedia dell'Arte.
Twelve of these drawings depict Venetian scenes or dress, suggesting the album may have been executed in the Veneto region, particularly in Venice or Padua, leading centres not only for manuscript production and publication, but also for fashion and the trading of textiles. At that time, the vogue to buy similar drawings or miniatures from print shops or booksellers, or to commission a personalized costume collection from local artists, was widespread among foreign travellers in Venice and other Veneto cities like Padua. In the age of pre-Grand Tour travels, such albums provided a sort of 'book of memories', illustrated with scenes from local life, especially its ceremonies and dress.
These albums were thus produced according to a traveller's individual preferences, and the drawings were rarely signed by the artists. Notably, such travel albums, and particularly those produced in the Venetian milieu, often included representations of courtesans in addition to drawings of noble or wealthy women. Another group might be said to form around rather cheeky representations of courtesans. Two such illustrations are of especial note. The first is a drawing of a woman dyeing her hair blond, an allurement closely associated with Venice, as attested by Titian's nudes. The second shows a courtesan — ironically juxtaposed with a widow — with a moveable flap for a skirt.
This conceit derives from Bertelli's Diversarum nationum habitus , though the flap is lacking in many copies of the printed book. When the flap is lifted, the woman is seen to be essentially naked, wearing only a pair of stockings with fancy ribbons and some high-heeled shoes. The remaining miniatures show various figures in a seemingly arbitrary order, including some depicting figures from the Commedia dell'Arte, which are of the greatest interest.
Developed in sixteenth-century Italy, the Commedia dell'Arte is a type of theatre characterized by improvised dialogues based around plot outlines and featuring a set of stock characters. Harlequin is the darling of the audience: Isabella is most often the beautiful girl whose adventurous path to a happy union with her beloved forms a central plotline.
Closely related is the miniature entitled 'Charlatano' fol. Charlatans entertained with fantastic stories, often about illnesses and miraculous cures for which they held in stock a wide selection of 'medicine' on sale for the audience. Like the comedians they performed in city and town piazzas. Another aspect of the fascination with theatre and costume is illustrated by the masquerade fol.
The miniatures in the second part of the present album, among which the flagellants certainly stand out, present other strata of society: This last miniature shows the pair engaged in a round of mora , a popular Italian game in which two players simultaneously hold up one or several fingers, each player trying at the same time to predict the number of fingers shown by the other.
Taken together, the miniatures, which may originally have belonged to a larger series, offer a cross-section of Venetian society at the beginning of the seventeenth century, as indicated by the fashion style. With its faithful representations of costumes, typical traditions, and social habits, the album is a truly precious historical document. The focus on dress also relates to contemporary printed costume books, including Bertelli's Diversarum nationum habitus and the De Habiti antichi et moderni by Cesare Vecellio, which first appeared in Venice in and subsequently went through many editions.
Both Bertelli's and Vecellio's works offer a veritable mine of information on clothing, textiles, and luxury goods such as jewellery. Similar albums are highly sought after by collectors for their rarity and the beauty of their visual representations. Famous examples include the ms Egerton of the British Library, which was produced in Venice or Padua in the s, and the album known as Mores Italiae , held by the Beinecke Library ms , which was executed in the s for a foreign student matriculated at the University of Padua.
Katritzky, The Art of Commedia: Cross-Cultural Perspectives , Oxford , pp. Rippa Bonati - V. Costumi e scene di vita del Rinascimento: Costume and Life in the Renaissance , Cittadella , pp. Vitali, La moda a Venezia attraverso i secoli. Lessico ragionato , Venezia ; S. Beautiful allegorical title leaf, surrounded by a cornucopia in the form of a garland, with richly festooned garlands draped over the upper portion of the frame.
On the verso of the title leaf, introductory text held by three putti and a bust labelled 'Lorenzo In', an homage to the inventor of the game the bust reappears at a slightly different angle bearing the full 'Lorenzo Inventi' on fol. The following leaves are finely illustrated with full-page and double-page ink drawings within elaborate frames, depicting — according the widespread iconography of fortune-telling books — kings, wheels of fortune, and prophets see below.
Calligraphic text in a single hand, drawings most likely in two. Each leaf has been 'tabbed' and labelled in the outer right margin to facilitate game playing.
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Seventeenth-century calf, over pasteboards. Covers within gilt frieze, spine divided into seven compartments by gilt fillets. Later endleaves, the original flyleaves preserved, bearing some essays with a compass. Under each wheel is a vignette with scenes of travellers, putti, castles, etc. All drawings included here are within elaborate ornamental frames, surmounted by banderoles that identify the passage or figure depicted below.
A very refined seventeenth-century manuscript containing the Libro della Ventura by Lorenzo Spirito, first printed in Bologna in — one of the most popular printed fortune-telling books of the Renaissance and here profusely embellished with high-quality ink drawings that beautifully exemplify the organic ornamentality of the Baroque.
The manuscript text is copied from the printed edition nearly verbatim , as are the major figures and motifs kings and fortune wheels, for example thus allowing for standard game play. However, the illustrations themselves are far more embellished and in the manner of the prominent Italian draughtsman and printmaker Stefano della Bella A prolific artist, della Bella was particularly well known for the vastness of his subject matter which ranged from wittily inventive ornamental plates, frontispieces, and illustrations for theatre productions, to present-day and historically bent scenes of the military arts and the royal court, to metaphoric representations of skeletons during the plague and a plethora of capricci.
Indeed, so varied was della Bella's work that he was even commissioned to produce four sets of educational playing cards for the young Louis XIV covering history, mythology, and geography. The breadth of figures, motifs, scenes, and ornament that permeate the pages of the manuscript presented here is equally impressive, particularly given the overall coherency and unity of form established throughout. This careful balance also points up an important feature of della Bella's style: The artist was also keen to work en plein air as much as possible, imbuing his rhythmical forms with a marked sense of spontaneity that is certainly to the fore in the present illustrations.
In more particular details, too, the master's style is everywhere evident; thematically, for example, in the small, elaborately costumed figures in fancy headdresses that recall his interest in Rembrandt, or in the array of animals that enliven the page as they scamper across imaginative landscapes in fact, della Bella was undertaking a series of etched animal portraits right around the date we propose our manuscript was produced, and certain animals, such as the deer and eagles, demonstrate remarkable similarity to those included in his series. Formally, too, the remarkable sense of luminosity and texture evident in the hair, feathers, grass, leaves, and sky — achieved through sure, painterly yet delicate strokes economically and efficiently employed to let the white ground come through — is practically signature della Bella.
A further point to the level of creativity demonstrated in this manuscript: The visual coherency of this manuscript is strengthened still by the unity of 'disegno' between the drawings and the three columns of calligraphic text, such that one may infer that artist s and calligrapher worked in close collaboration.
This is nowhere more evident than in the magnificent title leaf or the drawing on the following verso. The opening leaf gives the title in Roman capitals, beneath which are some introductory verses, not present in the received text. The text proper begins on the verso of the same leaf 'Qui comincia il libro' , and is neatly disposed on a curtain, a common feature of Baroque, held at the top by three putti.
While there were at least twelve Italian editions of Spirito's text — all now exceptionally rare see no. Comparison with the printed editions nonetheless suggests the basic trajectory: Artistically, the 'carpet' drawings, which occupy a quarter to half of the lower margin, are among the most inventive in the album.
Subjects include capricci , pastoral scenes of animals, seascapes, landscapes, fortified cities, and putti at play. A few are emblematic: We suggest the motive for the present manuscript was the production of a luxury object, probably for presentation, rather than simply a 'copy' of an increasingly rare printed text. The carefully cut tabs in the right margins make it clear that it was to be played as a game, and minor defects suggest other signs of use. The drawings were clearly made on individual sheets and then bound; although the paper stock is uniform, the sizes of the individual leaves are not, hence some irregularity in the fore-edges, a few of which are gauffered.
The manuscript ends with what, in retrospect, seems a joke: Massar, Stefano della Bella. Blunt, The Drawings of G. Massar , ; L. Klemm, Stefano della Bella Stefano della Bella als Zeichner. Oktober bis Twenty-six leaves, including the title-page, numbered leaves 8 and 9 are missing. Title-page within an elaborate burnt-sienna border. Six full-page drawings in burnt sienna numbered the first three are pasted , eight full-page drawings in pencil numbered , eight full-page drawings in burnt sienna, on same-color background, numbered , three full-page drawings in pencil, on light blue background, numbered Most of the drawings bear the monogram 'gsf.
Contemporary vellum, over pasteboards. Inked title on spine. Some minor staining and fingermarks, somewhat loose. A fine album of drawings, mostly executed in burnt sienna by Giuseppe Santini. Born in Pisa to a family originally from Barga, near Lucca. From onwards he worked in Pisa as an engineer with the rank of captain and was put in charge of ditches and canalization works in the cultivated fields. In the following years, he supervised the construction of bridges, embankments, roads, and ramparts, and was responsible for the restoration of palaces, castles, churches and the Medici armory in Pisa.
He also drew several topographical maps of the territories of Pistoia, Pisa, and Livorno; his surviving maps are extremely accurate and show his great ability both as a geographer and as a draftsman. In addition to these primary endeavours, Santini was a skilled artist and collector of drawings, and during his site inspections on the countryside and in town he would always have with him a sketchbook and a pencil; indeed, most of his subjects are taken from life during his trips on horseback.
The album offered here contains mainly studies of naked male bodies, but also cherubs, a king, a saint or prophet, a female figure and a group with Muses and laureate poets. Santini's skillful hand shows the influence, alongside Volterrano, who drew similar subjects, of such artists as Giulio Parigi, Remigio Cantagallina, Ercole Bazzicaluva, Valerio Spada, and Jacques Callot.
Apparently Santini used to gather his own drawings in numbered books. The Fondazione Longhi collection had an album of drawings produced by Santini himself, called Libbro di diversi disegni per principianti fatto l'anno in Firenze Libbro decimo sesto , which was disassembled and sold in Write a customer review. Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers.
Learn more about Amazon Giveaway. Set up a giveaway. There's a problem loading this menu right now. Learn more about Amazon Prime. Get fast, free shipping with Amazon Prime. Get to Know Us. English Choose a language for shopping. Not Enabled Word Wise: Not Enabled Screen Reader: Enabled Amazon Best Sellers Rank: He also features in an amateur Ferrarese court comedy, where he was played by the Duke of Ferrara. He appeared primarily not as a soldier or inamorato, but as a minor servant, as in the Munich wedding performance of or the servant Philipin of the Recueil Fossard woodcuts [plate 6].
On this, see section I. Angelieri, , ff.
Originality became increasingly difficult, and despite their different names, most of the dottore, Pantalones and captains became as indistinguishable as the lovers had already been in the sixteenth century, lifted out of uniformity only by the most exceptional actors. From the genuine improvisation, exciting experiments and wide creative repertoire of their earliest decades, the professional players gradually settle into unity, systematization and predictable routine. Its title page bears the name of Sieur Fossard, a musician at the court of Louis XIV, who reputedly assembled a vast personal collection of theatrical and festival prints and drawings, in the mistaken hope that it would be purchased by the king.
In an attempted reconstruction of the original collection, Beijer published forty-six of the eighty-five prints. Stockholm Nationalmuseum Printroom catalogue nos.
Beijer and Duchartre, Recueil de plusieurs fragments. Fossard could have acquired the engraving now distributed over folios 34—5 of the album [plates 40—1] as a cut-out, or mutilated it himself. But, in view of the absence of inked borders on folios 34—5, these fragments were probably cut out, perhaps even acquired, by a later collector. Although they are traditionally dated as early as , more rigorous theatre-historical methods suggest that the woodcuts of the Recueil Fossard were produced in the mids [plates 6—11]. This would give these early visual records exceptional documentary significance.
Christopher Cairns Lewiston, Queenston, Lampeter: Mellen, , 99—, figs. My thanks to Anthony Griffiths for drawing my attention to these. Klincksieck, , —70, pp. Luisa Secchi Tarugi Firenze: Cesati, , —, p. Here, the focus is on three groups of prints. The artists of two of these are identified as Ambrogio Brambilla and Ambrose I Francken, and further examples of their theatre-related pictures are identified and presented.
In , Mastropasqua suggested the theory again. His case was supported in detail by a selected sequence of eighteen of the woodcuts, arranged into three groups of six, each group representing one act of a three-act play. One problem is that a sequence of only eighteen pictures does not necessarily account for all the Recueil Fossard woodcuts suit- Beijer and Duchartre, Recueil de plusieurs fragments, p.
Tre saggi sul teatro popolare del cinquecento, eds. F Mastropasqua and Cesare Molinari Parma: Studium Parmense, , 91— In , Mastropasqua decided that the series was incomplete, and his sequence, although just one of many possibilities, provided as as good a basis as any from which to investigate the prints. Examination of the images and their related texts, both within each print and in relation to the other scenes in the series, has suggested a number of refinements [plate 6].
The reasoning behind them is offered here, without lingering over previously covered ground. For the first act, the sequence offers a battle scene NM as the fifth picture. This act is also visually more coherent if all the battle scenes are placed together here. Atti del Convegno di Studi, Pontedera, 28—29—30 maggio , ed.
Bulzoni, , 97—, p. Delphi, , pp. The play ends as it starts, with music, and the wedding dance allows the spectators to take an active part in the celebrations with which the performance concludes. But are the modifications proposed here a genuine advance, or was Mastropasqua justified in implying that further debate on this issue is a waste of time?
One way of testing the validity of the various reconstructions is by comparative examination with compositional variants. Such an opportunity is offered by five unsigned and undated engravings [plate 43]. Each image is sandwiched between two sets of quatrains, three French ones above and their German equivalents below, and includes between two and four main characters, all identified by name. Each verse is printed under the character whose dialogue it represents.
Despite close integration of verbal and visual content there is no internal logic, either compositional or dramatic. In every print, the order of the dialogue in these verses contradicts the logical chronological order of the depicted dramatic action.
Thus, in the first scene Francatripa introduces Harlequin to the audience only after both Licetta and Harlequin himself have spoken. In the second scene, Francisquina agrees to take Harlequin in marriage before Pantalone has had a chance to make the suggestion. In the third scene, Pantalone bids Harlequin farewell before Harlequin has explained why he is returning the children to him. In the fourth scene, Harlequin gets into a jealous rage before Pantalone and Francisquina have made their flirtatious exchange, and similarly in the fifth scene, Zany and Harlequin plot to attack Leandro only after he has been warned by Francisquina.
The very crudeness and illogicality of these engravings offers a vital clue in establishing the definitive sequence of the original woodcuts. For the fact that they are the wrong way round establishes beyond doubt that they are copies. The Berlin copy contains forty-five illustrations, some of which are known through many impressions. Early modern noblemen, travellers and academics, often in their student years, compiled such albums as souvenirs of European tours, often illustrated with coats of arms and typical scenes commissioned from local artists of very varying degrees of talent and experience.
The expense of original works of art also created an eager market for affordable alternatives amongst less affluent friendship album owners. In this context, it becomes clear that these engraved copies were not produced to commission in order to publicize or record a specific theatrical performance or tour. These prints were aimed to appeal not to a limited market of patrons of a specific theatrical production, but to the much vaster and longer-term market of those who aspired to keep friendship albums, and who could be tempted to part with their money by suitable pictures with which to decorate them.
German translations of the French verses of the Recueil Fossard originals were provided because the vast majority of this potential market was German-speaking. The originals were scaled down and printed with generous margins, to fit the typically small format of friendship albums, and allow adequate space for the handwritten entries typical of such volumes. The Harlequin of these prints is not based on any identifiable actor, and has no direct input from stage costume or practice current at the time of their production. He is based solely on the iconographic precedent of the Recueil Fossard Harlequin.
These five prints copy the same composition, and the same French verses, as five of the Recueil Fossard woodcuts included in all the reconstructions. Stockholm NM, —7, SOME WOODCUTS gardless of whether their source is the Recueil Fossard woodcuts themselves, or another common or intermediate source, only minimal independent artistic intelligence appears to have intervened in making the translation from the originals to the engravings. This indicates that these five engravings are, unlike more artistically ambitious variants, a relatively faithful reflection of their prototypes.
If they do not represent the complete series of the original images on which they are based, there is a high degree of probability that all or part of a coherent sub-series is reflected in them. In fact, there are considerable differences in distribution, and it would be interesting to establish whether these can be shown to support one particular reconstruction. Only the new sequence here proposed features all five woodcuts consecutively, in one continuous block, as the first five pictures of Act III.
Successive impressions indicate the popularity of the series. It is beyond coincidence that more than one subset of the same five compositions could have survived from a series of eighteen. So it seems reasonable to conclude that the scenes represented in the Oxford, Yale, Rome and Berlin series form the majority, if not the whole, of the original series of derivative engravings.
The regrouping of the woodcuts outlined here [plate 6] is strongly suggested by the internal coherence of the verses and the images. It assumes that the number in the bottom right-hand corner of each print indicates the position held by that print within an act, although it does not, of course, specify which of the three acts this is. Independent support is given to this new sequence by the five Oxford engravings. According to the new reconstruction, the first five pictures of the third act are the woodcuts of which these derivative engravings are variants.
In other words, they fall into the same — final — act of the play.
Die Commedia dell’arte im Theater des Jahrhunderts
Their inscriptions have misled some into assuming that Carenzano is their artist. However, my identification of the signature in the bottom left-hand corner of plate 52 enabled them to be attributed to Ambrogio Brambilla, an artist of Milanese origin active in Rome c. These postdate the death of its first publisher, Antonio Lafrery, in , and were produced for his successors Claude Duchet active —86 and Nicolas van Aelst active — Skira, , — 3, —8.
Hirth, —79 , I, pp. Italian 16th-Century Books, 2 vols, Cambridge, Mass: Belknap, , I, pp. They were enough of a success to warrant repeated re-issues, so that for example Gio. Each character is named. In the kitchen are: Napoletana, , p. A sonneto by Adriano Banchieri features numerous comic characters, among them Zachagna, Trippu, Burati and Franceschina. They are Pantalone, Trastulo, Franceschina, [Dottore] Gratiano, Todesco, Francatripe, [Capitano] Cardone and a Pedrolino who predates the earliest previously accepted image of this mask by over three decades.
Callwey, , fig. Der spielende Mensch, 4 , —95, p. Cries and Itinerant Trades. Hauswedell, , p. Der spielende Mensch, 3 , special issue: Lorenzo Vaccari, or Della Vaccheria, a printer-publisher of French or perhaps Bolognese origin who ran a workshop at S.
Beijer and Duchartre, Recueil de plusieurs fragments, p.
Movements periods
These themes are united in the two engravings on folio 45 of the Stockholm Recueil Fossard featuring the same composition, the one below being a reversed variant with different inscriptions [plate 55]. Five of the characters are identified by name in the lower print, and these theatrical names, as well as the costumes and hairstyles, particularly of the central girl, are of later origin than those of the upper print.
My search for compositionally and stylistically related pictures led to a painting on wood featuring this same composition, and two further paintings in similar style and format [plates 56—8]. In the first picture Pantalone, supported on the shoulders of his servant Zanni, delivers a love letter to the inamorata, via her maid, who takes it from an upper-floor window in the curtained backdrop [plate 57]. A second Zanni serenades on his lute. A third Zanni, servant to the elegant inamorato appearing from behind the backdrop, surprises the group and threatens Pantalone with his dagger.
This foreshadows the events shown in the second painting [plate 58]. The third picture may be regarded as the concluding tableau of this action. The extreme similarity of the actors, particularly the three males, in pose, costume and features to those in the other two paintings, strengthens the likelihood that the three compositions show consecutive scenes of the same series, painted by the same artist. The signature on the upper engraving of plate 55, that of H.
Although the girl is identified as an inamorata by some authorities e. Hans Liefrinck the Elder was an engraver and print publisher active in Antwerp until his death in Although the calling of his namesake Hans the Younger, a map designer in Leiden from , makes him a less likely candidate, it is his death which establishes a firm ante quem of for these pictures.
One of the paintings [plate 57], shares its composition and format with a signed drawing which is probably its preparatory drawing [plate 59]. Meddens, , p. The connection between the drawing and the Recueil Fossard engraving was made by Marijn Schapelhouman Tekeningen van Noord- en Zuidnederlandse kunstenaars geboren voor Amsterdam: Historisch Museum, , p. Satisfactory resolution of this question, as with so many in the field of early theatre iconography, is impeded by the disappearance of the originals into private hands, leaving only grainy monochrome reproductions for scholarly contemplation.
The strongest stylistic influence on his largely religious oeuvre comes from Marten de Vos, with whom he collaborated extensively. French, the language of the accompanying verses, was current in Antwerp as well as Paris in the late sixteenth century. Furthermore, Francken is known to have been in France in , where visits of the Italian comedians are well documented from , and was perhaps previously in Italy itself.
Many such pictures are Beijer and Duchartre, Recueil de plusieurs fragments, p. Association with dated pictures, in order to establish chronological directions of pictorial influence, offers a more reliable approach to dating undocumented ones than speculative attempts to relate them to recorded performances. On-stage depictions of the comici, such as those of the Recueil Fossard, are rightly placed at the top of a hierarchy of commedia-related images. In this section, the focus is on pictures showing actors and comic masks in a wide variety of settings, both on and off stage, including carnival scenes.
By this time, depictions of carnival activities had become predominantly associated with Winter in series of the seasons, and with January, and even more typically February, in series of the months. He trained under the Flemish artist Stradanus Jan van Straet, — , who was active in Florence from about onwards and depicted three Italian comedians in a com Inge Krengel-Strudthoff recognizes pictures as an invaluable documentary source for the commedia, but dismisses carnival pictures: As noted in connection with Ferrara and Munich see above, pp.
This tradition has medieval roots. In this print, the tournament contest of running at the ring is watched in the background by a crowd, some in carriages, some on raised covered seating, most standing in the street. In the middle distance, the circle of spectators is held back by two mounted riders, between whom performers entertain the crowds with lute playing and acrobatics. The foreground is framed on either side by raised structures holding spectators, and has three centrally placed costumed horsemen.
In the left foreground, a pointing Pantalone is mounted on a donkey, and at the right his servant, Zanni, carries a basket of carnival eggs over his arm. Both Pantalone and Zanni are masked, and dressed in anachronistic, theatrical costume, based on the outfits of the typical mid-sixteenth century Venetian merchant and porter. The houses forming the architectural backdrop to this scene are representative of late renaissance Florentine architecture.
Maria Novella [plate 65]. In the foreground, five performers in a city square entertain two women on a balcony. The group consists of two women on horseback, in eastern or medieval costume, a zanni with an egg basket, similar to the one in the foreground of Febraro, and, underneath the balcony, a serenading pair, one of whom is a masked lute-playing zanni. The cymbals, chin-strapped headgear and flowing cloak of the other indicate a gypsy. The Sadeler engravings [plates 66—7] are virtually mirror image copies.
Two drawings after Febraro probably datable to the s, one very detailed, the other more freely sketched, in II. In the foreground are two characters in dark full-face masks wearing red and yellow tedesco costumes. In the centre background are three performers on a stage, an older male or female hunchback flanked by two men, one playing a lute. To the right foreground, a masked boy sells carnival eggs. All the face masks in this painting are in flesh or deep flesh tones. Ertz favours a dating to c. To the right of the print, two women overlooking the performers wield eggs, as was the custom at carnival time, and carnival eggs are being sold from baskets at the left of the print, and at the right of the painting, where, as in the print, women overlook the performers.
Studies in the Practice of Theatre, ed. Mellen, , —88, pp. DuMont, , p. Luca, , pp. A further implication is that Jan I, an artist who undoubtedly visited Rome, and probably witnessed the Roman carnival at first hand, based his painting of this event, its masked performers and revellers, and even its architectural setting, at least in part not on his own experiences, but on pictures by other artists. They share virtually identical settings and are all attributed to Louis de Caulery, because of their compositional and stylistic similarities to his signed painting The carnival [plate 73].
Two were sold under the titles Village and party and Carnival revellers at a tourney in an Italianate renaissance town [plates 70—1]. Despite these titles, which imply that the comic masks in the foregrounds of all three of these charming compendia of late renaissance carnival diversions are nothing more than party goers or revellers, they are actors performing comic scenes. No doubt such compendia carried wider symbolic and religious meanings, and, judging by the frequency with which they were painted, perhaps also provided nostalgic consolation to many an affluent February reveller in the lean days of Lent.
In the background of each picture a tournament takes place before a crowd. In the foreground, to the right in plates 71—2 and to the left in plate 70, a man with a basket sells eggs, traditionally tossed into the crowd by the more boisterous carnival participants. In plate 70, there are four comic actors next to the egg seller in the street.
They face right, and a second zanni behind, in a pale yellow top and grey trunk hose, wields a dagger. The picture is delicately painted in thin, free washes through which the ruled underdrawing of the architecture shows. In plates 71—2, Pantalone rides a conventional horse, and has only two servants, one beside him, and a Harlequin in front. Others include the carnival tournament in progress in the middle distance, the mounted Pantalone in the foreground who gestures towards a richly dressed group on a raised temporary structure, the costumed pair of mounted horsemen, the basket of carnival eggs, carriages and a distant crowd of spectators.
The compositions cannot have been reached independently or without some common source or intermediary. Additionally, Tempesta would have had the opportunity to witness at first hand the festival portrayed in Febraro, and it is placed in a convincing Florentine street setting.
Various iconographic elements support this indication, for example the pleasing and logical circular route taken by the carnival eggs at the right-hand side of the print from egg seller up to the ladies, and then down to the hapless gentlemen , is degraded meaninglessly in the paintings, suggesting that it portrays a custom familiar to the engraver, but not to the painters. The Harlequin and his companion of plates 71—2 are later comic servant types. They share, for example, the motif of the tower of acrobats, absent in plate 70, and the pointing Pantalones and their donkeys are similar.
The possibility that Tempesta drew on this Flemish painting for both his Februaries can be virtually dismissed. An as yet undiscovered common source predating both the paintings and the prints also seems unlikely. The stylistic differences between plates 70 and 71 indicate two artists. Despite the art market attribution, the heavily painted background architecture and less artificially contorted types of plate 71 rule out serious association with Caulery.
Lucas Guild, into which Caulery was accepted as a master in , himself taking an apprentice in Waanders, , pp. However Beaujean dates it to c. Dated signed pictures include: Crucifixion, New York art market ; The five senses, Louvre. An indoor society scene similar to II. LOUIS DE CAULERY like old man mounted on a donkey in the centre foreground, surrounded by a crowd of comic characters, some with musical instruments, including an unmasked xylophone player in the right foreground, in a Harlequin-like patched garment, but neutrally coloured with monochrome greys, rather than brightly coloured.
They focus their efforts in the direction of the group on the balcony at the right of the picture, while being watched by the elegant company in the doorway below. Attribution of an unsigned Carnival scene is supported by its similarity, in style, atmosphere and foreground figures, to the signed The Carnival. Certain of these compositionally related paintings can be arranged in sequences, in which their backgrounds form gradually changing series, taking on an increasingly northern flavour in one while remaining Italianate in another. Plates 77 and 78 are among further panels attributed to Caulery which share the theme and setting of plate 76, and the leafless tree acting as a central focus and indication of the winter carnival season.
Also associated with this group are dated carnival paintings of and , whose setting, like that of plate 78, is Flemish [plates 80—3]. Additionally, the slope of the bridge to the right with the carriage on it is steeper, there is a greater shift of the central building to the left of the picture, with a correspondingly lesser emphasis of other left-hand architectural details, and the right-hand wings do not have balconies.
The door of this wing, arched in plates 76 and 80, has pilasters and a classical pediment in plate They intermesh with other equally complex sequences, some pictures may have Plate Notably the Pantalone, Harlequin and tambourine-playing inamorata in the left foreground of plates 81—3.
This is Sebastian Vrancx, born in Antwerp in For example, figures in plates 81—5 which relate to some of those in plate 76 include Father Time on his stilts accompanied by a drummer and a tambourine player, and Carnival himself, mounted on his barrel. In plates 81—3 they are closer to those of plate 84 than plate 76, although the background of plate 84 bears no relation to these paintings. Legrand, Les peintres flamands, pp.
Pictures in which possible direct influence is apparent include Earthly pleasures and its variants, several versions of Dives and Lazarus, two panels monogrammed by Vrancx, and a Carnival [plates 92—]. The central mounted falconer of plate 92 closely resembles those in Maggio [plate 91]. The fountains, formal flowerbeds, peacocks, deer, carriage and pair and central folly of Aprile all have their counterparts in Dives and Lazarus, whose bending foreground servant, display of plates and jugs, pointing man and rich foods are reminiscent of those in Gennaro [plates 89—90, 97—8].
Possibly, Vrancx was an assistant in the Roman studio of Paul Bril, perhaps even involved with the production of the Corsini Album drawings [see plates —7, ]. Painted variants of plate 98 include plate , which simplifies the print by, for example, omitting the palm trees, and plate , which varies the foreground figures. HMSO, , p. Its crudely painted background is a schematic variant of that in plate 98, while its pavilions are similar to those to the right and left of plate A display of plates and jugs similar to that in plates 97—9 and Gennaro [plate 90] also recurs, and the foreground figures are set in a grotto reminiscent of the construction of the central folly of Aprile [plate 89].
In plate , a lute-playing zanni shares a trestle stage in the right-hand middle distance with a mountebank, while in plate , the stage is in the central foreground, and two masked actors perform on it. Hirmer, , —81, pp. The background of plate , at whose left-hand side comedians on a raised stage aid a mountebank, also relates to that of plate Plate relates closely to plate , but lacks its right-hand architectural feature.
Of the Flemish scenes, those bearing the monogram or signature of Vrancx include several winter carnival scenes depicting figures, some masked, in commedia-related costumes [plates —]. Plate , securely attributed to Vrancx through its association with a print after it, shows carnival mummers in an indoor setting [plate ]. In the left background, on a stage raised to just above head height, a mountebank promotes his wares, aided by a string-playing male in zanni costume, and a female. In the right and central background, six masks burst on to the scene, the female in eastern-inspired costume, the males in matachin costumes, one armed with a hammer and one wielding a stick, another playing the violin, a fourth somersaulting, the fifth partnering the woman in a dance.
A composition featuring a troupe of Italian comedians in See also index Vrancx. Plate reverses the composition of plate Plates —16 feature masked carnival revellers of the type depicted on the left-hand side of plate Variants of plate attributed to a range of artists include plates — Stylistically similar are the comic types in a dated picture of plate signed with a monogram interpreted by the art market as that of Adriaen Pietersz.
The typical attributes of winter in plate include a theatrical or carnival mask.
- ;
- 1. Alighieri, Dante (1265-1321).
- Honeymoon with the Enemy (Kaitlyns Secrets Book 1).
- Nicht mehr rauchen für Dummies (German Edition);
Others in this print series, much favoured by the owners of friendship albums, also feature comic performers [plates —3]. Plate is the most topographically accurate. For the first third of the sixteenth century, descriptions of this civic festival in the diaries of Marin Sanudo detail the carnival and other mumarie organized by the Compagnie della Calza, acting alongside temporarily employed professional buffoni. It is such professional troupes, the acknowledged highlight of the Venetian carnival, and not random masqueraders, that are reflected in the right foregrounds of this group of paintings.
Perhaps more loosely associated with this group is plate , which may be an inferior workshop production. Undoubtedly by Vrancx himself is plate 69c, brought to my attention in reproduced with thanks to the private owner. Related paintings for which it has not proved possible to obtain photographs include: His proposal for solving this conundrum was to suggest the simultaneous presence in early sixteenth century Venice with the German Johann Liss d.
Variants of plate c include plates , , b my thanks to the curators of the Correr Museum for granting me access to this reserve collection painting. They feature formulaic architectural staffage, grisaille background crowds, and, as a glowing contrast, numerous brightly costumed middle and foreground figures, delicately painted by a consummate colourist of high artistic skill. I believe the Schneider collection painting and plate c to be the same work. They share virtually the same dimensions and inscription, and additional compositional features in the Schneider painting absent from plate c notably the prominent shadow thrown by the Campanile, and the first digit of the inscribed date may be the result of over-harsh cleaning.
Fiocco, Venetian Painting, p. Notwithstanding his close personal knowledge of the original, this reassessment attracted distrust and contempt, and the painting was completely ignored by the great Liss exhibition of Attribution on stylistic grounds alone is fraught with pitfalls. The foreground groupings of plates —6 each include an elegant gathering on a raised platform in the left foreground, watching bullfighting in the middle of the square, while crowds of carnival revellers mill around the various amusements.
Mountebanks perform on raised outdoor stages in the middle righthand distance of plates —3 and —6. In plates —3, crowds of small, hardly differentiated plump figures swirl around the square. Plates and have an even more spontaneous atmosphere. But in plate , distinct groups of figures, each with minutely described features, gestures and costume details, are combined into one large and carefully planned composition.
It features a representative selection of typical carnival diversions: Some awkward changes in scale, for example between the figures in the group in the left and middle foreground, and the rather coarse and stilted treatment of the background, indicate an artist inexperienced in handling such an ambitious and complicated composition. Schroll, , pp. Davaco, , p. The comic troupes of plates , and are very different to each other. That of plate appears to be composed of a string-playing male, a woman and a manservant in a tight red matachin suit similar to those worn by the bullfighters at the front right-hand side of the picture.
They are followed by another couple and two males in less brightly coloured outfits, but it is difficult to make out more than the most general costume details in the tiny, centrally placed figures. In both, a string-playing zanni precedes a Pantalone accompanied by a man holding a bird, who are followed by two masked couples, and the painting is broadly compatible with the style of Toeput, who died c. There are compositional parallels with the Italian comedians depicted in two drawings by Momper, which themselves appear to derive from those in an engraving after Toeput [plates —30].
None of these comic figure types or compositional groups is to be found in the paintings of Louis de Caulery. In some of his paintings, hammer-wielding zanni lead comic troupes, or there are even variations on a whole component of the troupe of plate , namely the Pantalone—inamorata pair with Zanni and a second servant, and one or two acrobats.
In plate , the zanni has acquired a striped suit, and moved from the right of the Pantalone—inamorata pair to that of the Harlequin and drunken tedesco pair. In plate , the masked performers include the Pantalone—courtesan pair, the somersaulting acrobat and his companion, and a string-playing servant. See, for example, plates 97, 99—, , SUMMARY , Pantalone and his courtesan, and a second couple both in eastern-inspired costume, are preceded by a string-playing zanni, and followed by a Harlequin.
Plate is especially close to the monogrammed plate 97, whose composition is shared by a dated engraving of Not only do the comic troupes in the two paintings share a close resemblance, but the costume details, poses and facial types of the wealthy spectators are comparable, and consistent with both paintings being early works of Sebastian Vrancx.
These are firstly, that very precise dating of such images is sometimes possible quite independently of their theatrical content; and secondly, to demonstrate that the Antwerp artists of this group of paintings drew heavily on detailed knowledge of previous pictures, to the extent that the settings for their depictions of the Italian comedians are primarily variations on a limited range of themes. Often associated with the month of February, these are predominantly urban carnivals and courtly garden scenes.
Sometimes the comic masks are nothing more than carnival revellers. For their performances, costumes and sets, it is possible See, for example, plates 73, 76, 78—80, 84, —16, , See, for example, plates 68, 77, —3, , —23, —8, See, for example, plates 70—2, See, for example, plates 92—, —9, , —9, See, for example, plates —45, —1. See, for example, plates 81—3, RHS , — offstage figures , One of these groups features Italianate backgrounds, the other, ending with paintings dated to and , northern backgrounds. Here more than one print is involved, and an as yet undiscovered common source for the similarities between the prints and plate 71, or influence from this painting to Tempesta, is correspondingly unlikely.
The possibility of as yet unknown variants representing further links of influence or requiring modifications to these groupings cannot be ruled out, and any assumptions based on this restricted sampling of the pictorial record can only be tentative. However, this analysis does indicate that plates 71, 76 and 78 may be dated quite precisely to the period —3, and that plate 81 probably dates to —5.
He is Sebastian Vrancx, whose Dives and Lazarus [plate 97] of c. Al- Notably plates 64—5, Plates 70, 72, They have as much to do with the identity of the artists who depicted them, and the pictures with which they are familiar, as with the appearance, performances, and settings of any actual entertainers depicted. Sterling reviews the pictorial record then associated with the visits of Italian actors to France during the years to , reproducing six paintings, all depicting actors on-stage, or in three-quarter view groups.
Here, these images are reconsidered in the light of related pictures. Bayeux Museum [plate 12]; Carnavalet Museum [plate 61]; Paris, private collection [plate 60]. Plates , , Sand, Masques et Bouffons, I, p. Duchartre, The Italian Comedy, p. Small numbers painted directly beside eleven of the twenty depicted characters, some barely legible, others evidently touched up, identify them as follows: The woman standing behind Pantalone is youngish and in a fashionable, cream-coloured dress with decorative black undersleeves, a pale lilac underdress, and the same type of pretty headwear as her female companions].
Now identified by number as the young man standing between Charles and Caterina, in green doublet, stockings, hose and hat, the last with a spoon in it, black doublet and pink cloak, although Duchartre p. The number 6 II. The masked servant next to him wears a feathered cap, dark leggings, and a pale grey jacket cut in loose zanni fashion, but decorated with numerous neutrally coloured, and several bright red, green, or yellow patches. The setting is a stone-walled interior of monumental proportions, leading to an open archway framing a summer view into formal gardens. To the top left of the panel, a heavy black curtain has been drawn back.
The number is no longer visible, and it is not possible to tell which figure is meant]. The date of the marriage was 17 August , a week before the Massacre of St Bartholomew Now identified as the extreme right-hand seated figure]. Identified by some as a Harlequin; see below, p. Nicoll, Masks, Mimes and Miracles, pp. International Theatre Bookshop, , p. Plates 12, 60, 61, With hindsight, I no longer support my tentative stylistic linking of plate 12 to these pictures.
Edda Fuhrich and Hilde Haider Wien: He was in the employ of Archduke Matthias — from around , when the archduke moved to Brussels as nominal Regent of the Netherlands.