Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level D , Case EO, Shelf 30

Print

ca. 1573 (published)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This print depicts a strapwork cartouche. Strapwork is a type of decoration which mimics the appearance of curled and intertwined bands of a flat material such as leather or sheet metal. Its origins are in early 16th century Italian art, but the design was also popular throughout Northern Europe from about 1535-1630. A cartouche is an elaborately decorated frame which can contain words, a picture or, as in this print, be left blank. The unknown Italian engraver of this print copied it from one designed by the Netherlandish artist Hans Vredeman de Vries, which had been published 18 years earlier in 1555, in Antwerp.


Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
Engraving on paper
Brief description
Anonymous Italian engraving after Hans Vredeman de Vries of a cartouche, published by Antonio Lafrery, Italian, ca. 1573.
Physical description
Lozenge-shaped cartouche, top left and right fuming ewers. Copy of Fuhring (1997), 20.
Dimensions
  • Plate height: 18.4cm
  • Plate width: 13.5cm
Style
Marks and inscriptions
Numbered 7
Summary
This print depicts a strapwork cartouche. Strapwork is a type of decoration which mimics the appearance of curled and intertwined bands of a flat material such as leather or sheet metal. Its origins are in early 16th century Italian art, but the design was also popular throughout Northern Europe from about 1535-1630. A cartouche is an elaborately decorated frame which can contain words, a picture or, as in this print, be left blank. The unknown Italian engraver of this print copied it from one designed by the Netherlandish artist Hans Vredeman de Vries, which had been published 18 years earlier in 1555, in Antwerp.
Bibliographic references
  • Fuhring, P., Hollstein's Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts 1450-1700, Volume XLVI, I Vredeman de Vries, Part I, 1555-1571, Rotterdam, 1997, no.s 14-26, copy 1.
  • Ornament and Architecture: Renaissance Drawings, Prints and Books, Exhibition Catalogue, Brown University, Bell Gallery, List Art Center, Providence, Rhode Island, 1980, 86, as Hans Vredeman de Vries.
  • Miller, E., 16th-century Italian ornament prints in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1999, p. 45 (cat. 5).
  • Miller, E., A Reassembled Volume of Sixteenth-century Italian Ornament Prints Published by Antonio Lafrery (forthcoming).
Collection
Accession number
16828

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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