Physical description
Plate 1. Ornamental panel with bound slaves and a birdcage.
Place of Origin
Italy (Published)
Date
second quarter 16th century (Published)
Artist/maker
Nicoletto da Modena (Engraver)
Salamanca, Antonio, born 1478 - died 1562 (publisher)
Materials and Techniques
Engraving on paper
Marks and inscriptions
Signed in monogram twice NO with a vase.
Lettered An. sa. exc.
A winged figure writes SPQR.D.I.I on a tablet on the left. On the right a similar figure writes .D.D. and A.N.
Dimensions
Height: 26 cm Cut to, Width: 13.8 cm Cut to
Object history note
From Miller (1999), p. 76:
A date of 1507 has been suggested for the first publication of these prints (Washington, p.478), placing them among the earliest prints of their type produced in Italy. The engraver is known to have seen Nero's Domus Aurea in Rome in that year, as an inscription there reads Nicholeto da Modena/Ferrara 1507 (Washington, p.466). It has been suggested (Berliner, 1925-26, p.15 and Washington, p.478) that a figure in a work by Urs Graf, datable to 1512, is derived from one of the plates in the set (B. XIII, 54, not in the V&A), but this apparent relationship has been doubted (Zucker, 1984, p. 228). For a discussion of these images, see Brown, 70A and B, and Washington. The plate order follows Bartsch. Hind's third and fourth state of these prints involves the reworking of the plate as well as the addition of Salamanca's name.
Descriptive line
Grotesque ornament print, engraved by Nicoletto da Modena, Italy, second quarter of the 16th century.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Bartsch, A., Le Peintre-Graveur, 21 vols, Vienna, 1803-21, vol. XIII, 56,57.
Guilmard, D., Les Maîtres Ornemanistes, Paris, 1880-188, p.282, no. 7.
Jessen, P., Meister des Ornamentstiches, eine Auswahl aus vier Jahrhunderten, vol. 1, Gotik und Renaissance, Berlin, 1924, 32-3.
Hind, A.M., Early Italian Engraving, 7 vols, London, 1938-48, V, no. 105-III and 106-III.
Berliner, R. and Egger, G., Ornamentale Vorlageblätter des 15. bis 19. Jahrhunderts, 3 vols, Munich, 1981, 222-3.
Washington: Early Italian Engravings from the National Gallery of Art, Exhibition catalogue, National Gallery of Art, Washington (J.A. Levenson, K. Oberhuber, J.L. Sheehan), 1973, 174-5.
Ornament and Architecture: Renaissance Drawings, Prints and Books, Exhibition Catalogue, Brown University, Bell Gallery, List Art Center, Providence, Rhode Island, 1980, 70a &b.
Jean-Richard, P., Ornemanistes du Xve au XVIIe siècles gravures et dessins : XIVe exposition de la Collection Edmond de Rothschild, Exhibition catalogue, Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1987, 142-3.
González de Zárate, J.M., Real Colección de Estampas de San Lorenzo de El Escorial, 10 vols, Vitoria-Gastiez, 1992-5, vol. VIII, 49. (3212), VIII.1.2-3.(3351-2).
Miller, E., 16th-century Italian ornament prints in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1999, p. 76 (cat. 22a &b).
Production Note
First published before 1522
Materials
Paper
Techniques
Engraving
Subjects depicted
Grotesques; Slaves; Tablets
Categories
Ornament prints
Collection code
PDP
