ANTONIO FANTUZZI (ACTIVE 1537-1550) AFTER GIULIO ROMANO (CIRCA 1499-1546)

Combat of Gladiators

Details

ANTONIO FANTUZZI (ACTIVE 1537-1550) AFTER GIULIO ROMANO (CIRCA 1499-1546)
Combat of Gladiators
etching, circa 1542-43, on laid paper, watermark Small Circle, a very good impression of this extremely rare print, printed in brownish-grey ink, with many wiping marks and impurities in the plate, trimmed inside the platemark but retaining a fillet of blank paper outside the borderline at the sides and above, with a vertical central fold, in very good condition
Sheet 350 x 438 mm.

Literature

Bartsch 5; Zerner 13

Lot Essay

The composition of this print is based on one of the fresco roundels on the ceiling of the Sala dei Venti in the Palazzo del Tè, Mantua, designed by Giulio Romano and executed by Rainaldo in 1527-28.

The impression in the British Museum is of similar quality and bears the same watermark, but is printed in greyish-black ink.

To our knowledge, only one other impression has been offered at auction within the last thirty years, on 26 June 1985, in these rooms.

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