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Portrait of Pietro Aretino

Print
mid 17th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Hollar, Wenceslaus (printmaker)
Titian (artist)
Raimondi, Marcantonio (printmaker)
Place of origin
Germany (made)
England (made)

Portrait of Pietro Aretino; After Titian; Copied from Marcantonio Raimondi's print, Print on paper; Inscribed 'Questo è PIETRO ARETINO Poeta Tosco.'.


Object details

Categories
Prints
Portraits
Gender and Sexuality
Object type
Print
TitlePortrait of Pietro Aretino
Materials and techniques
print on paper
Paper
Printing Ink
Printing
Brief description
Portrait of Pietro Aretino; After Titian; Copied from Marcantonio Raimondi's print, Print on paper; By Wenceslaus Hollar; Germany or England; Mid 17th century.
Physical description
Portrait of Pietro Aretino; After Titian; Copied from Marcantonio Raimondi's print, Print on paper; Inscribed 'Questo è PIETRO ARETINO Poeta Tosco.'.
Style
German
Marks and inscriptions
'Questo è PIETRO ARETINO Poeta Tosco.' (Inscribed.)
Credit line
Bequeathed by Rev. Alexander Dyce
Object history
While the term 'sodomite' has been used in this record, it has since fallen from usage and is now considered offensive. The term is repeated in this record in its original historical context.
Subjects depicted
Man
Portrait
Homosexual
Aretino, Pietro
Bibliographic references
  • DYCE COLLECTION. A Catalogue of the Paintings, Miniatures, Drawings, Engravings, Rings and Miscellaneous Objects Bequeathed by The Reverend Alexander Dyce. London : South Kensington Museum : Printed by G.E. Eyre and W. Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1874.
  • ARETINO, PIETRO (1492-1556) Italian playwright, poet, satirist and blackmailer. Known as the "scourge of princes" Aretino occupies a place in Renaissance history both for his erotic literature (considered some of the most outrageous of the age) and for his extraordinary ability, as the son of a shoe-maker, to have entered the wealthy world of artistic and literary patronage where he wielded considerable influence. He declared himself "a sodomite since birth" in a letter of 1524 to Giovanni de Medici in which he also enclosed a satirical poem saying that due to a sudden aberration he had "fallen in love with a female cook and temporarily switched from boys to girls". Homosexuality is most prominent is his comedy play Il marescalco (1533). The protagonist is the Duke of Mantua's farrier who has no interest in women. The Duke decides to tease him by forcing him into an arranged marriage which causes the farrier a great deal of grief. At the nuptials, however, he learns that his bride is in fact a male page dressed in women's clothing and he cannot mask his delight at the discovery. Aretino became a blackmailer whilst in Venice, extorting money from men who had sought his guidance on issues relating to various 'vices' available in the city. According to Burckhardt, Jacob (1878) in The Civilization Of The Renaissance in Italy, Aretino "kept all that was famous in Italy in a kind of state of siege".
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
DYCE.1921

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Record createdFebruary 26, 2010
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1155541/portrait-of-pietro-aretino-print-hollar-wenceslaus/
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