ORAZIO BORGIANNI (CIRCA 1578-1616)
THE SAM JOSEFOWITZ COLLECTION: A LIFETIME OF DISCOVERY AND SCHOLARSHIP
ORAZIO BORGIANNI (CIRCA 1578-1616)

The Lamentation

Details
ORAZIO BORGIANNI (CIRCA 1578-1616)
The Lamentation
etching
1615
on laid paper, without watermark
a fine impression of this uncommon print
printing clearly and with strong contrasts
with thread margins
some small defects
generally in good condition
Plate & Sheet 237 x 222 mm.
Provenance
Sam Josefowitz (1921-2015), Lithuania, Switzerland, USA and England (Lugt 6094); then by descent to the present owners.
Literature
Bartsch 2

Brought to you by

Stefano Franceschi
Stefano Franceschi Specialist

Check the condition report or get in touch for additional information about this

If you wish to view the condition report of this lot, please sign in to your account.

Sign in
View condition report

Lot Essay

Orazio Borgianni, a painter active in Rome and Spain in the first years of the 17th century, ventured into printmaking at the very end of his career, producing a set of 52 plates after Raphael's frescoes in the Vatican Logge. He only created two single plates, a Saint Christopher (B. 53) and the present Lamentation, which he dedicated to the Spanish Ambassador in Rome, Francisco Ruiz de Castro Andrade y Portugal, who owned a painting by Borgianni of the subject. While several painted versions survive, it is not known with any certainty which of them belonged to Castro, and none seems to relate directly to the print. The compact, frontal composition with a strongly foreshortened perspective is reminiscent of Mantegna's Lamentation in the Brera in Milan. The chiaroscuro effect emphasizes the figure of Christ and leaves the mourners in the shade, thus concentrating our gaze onto the lifeless body and drawing us into this austere and mournful scene.

See M. Bury, The Print in Italy 1550-1620, London, 2001, p. 84-85, no. 47.

More from Old Master Prints

View All
View All