.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The engraved portraits of Cicero and Cato were probably conceived as part of a series of Italian philosophers and poets, published by Antonio Salamanca circa 1520-50. The prints closely relate to the engraved portraits of Lodovico Ariosto and Jacopo Sannazaro in the British Museum and of Petrarch and Laura in the Royal Collection, Windsor, both thematically and stylistically, all showing the same double border line around the text panels below.
Heliogabalus most probably relates to a series of engraved portraits of Roman Emperors based on classical busts, similar to Martino Rota's presumably slightly later Series of Twenty-Four Portraits of Roman Emperors, which includes an engraving of Heliogabalus (Bartsch 54) in reverse to the present impression.
Heliogabalus became Roman Emperor at the age of 14 and reigned from 218 to 222 AD. Although he was married at least four times, he had the reputation of lavishing favours upon his male courtiers, who were his lovers, and was said to have prostituted himself within the Imperial palace. He was assassinated by members of the Praetorian Guard, following the orders of his own grandmother, at the tender age of 18. According to the 19th century historian B. G. Niebuhr (1776 – 1831), Heliogabalus is remembered for his "unspeakably disgusting life".
Heliogabalus most probably relates to a series of engraved portraits of Roman Emperors based on classical busts, similar to Martino Rota's presumably slightly later Series of Twenty-Four Portraits of Roman Emperors, which includes an engraving of Heliogabalus (Bartsch 54) in reverse to the present impression.
Heliogabalus became Roman Emperor at the age of 14 and reigned from 218 to 222 AD. Although he was married at least four times, he had the reputation of lavishing favours upon his male courtiers, who were his lovers, and was said to have prostituted himself within the Imperial palace. He was assassinated by members of the Praetorian Guard, following the orders of his own grandmother, at the tender age of 18. According to the 19th century historian B. G. Niebuhr (1776 – 1831), Heliogabalus is remembered for his "unspeakably disgusting life".