Lot 39

Giovanni Battista Franco, called Il Semolei (circa 1510-1561) after Giulio Romano (circa 1499-1546) and G. F. Penni (1490-1528)

Emperor Constantine presenting the City of Rome to Pope Sylvester (B. 55)

Details

Giovanni Battista Franco, called Il Semolei (circa 1510-1561) after Giulio Romano (circa 1499-1546) and G. F. Penni (1490-1528)
Emperor Constantine presenting the City of Rome to Pope Sylvester (B. 55)
etching and engraving, circa 1530-50, on laid paper, with an indistinct Circle watermark, a fine impression of this rare print, trimmed to or just into the subject, laid down onto an 18th century album sheet, an un-inked vertical printer's crease at upper centre, a few other, minor printer's creases, some foxing mainly at the sheet edges, the subject generally in good condition
S. 411 x 570 mm.

Provenance

The Dukes of Devonshire, Chatsworth; Christie's, London, Old Master Prints from Chatsworth, 5 December 1985, lot 89 (£918)(on the original album sheet and with their numbers in pencil below).

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Charlie Scott

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Lot Essay

Bruce Davis's remark that, as 'one of the finest Italian printmaker of the mid sixteenth century, Franco deserves further study', still holds true today. (Bruce Davis, Mannerist Prints - International Style in the Sixteenth Century, Los Angeles, 1988, p. 328).

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