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Disegni Del Mantegna

Print
1795-7 (printed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Despite Francecso Novelli’s series of prints being titled ‘Disegni Del Mantegna’, the drawings which the engravings are based upon are in fact those produced by Italian painter and draughtsman Marco Zoppo. Discovered in Padua during the eighteenth century, the drawings were wrongly attributed to Andrea Mantegna by Novelli, resulting in him producing his series of prints in regards to Mantegna. The title-page of the series features a bust portrait of Mantegna, as well as an inscription praising the artist, whilst a majority of the plates feature Mantegna’s name as the draughtsman. The collection of drawings, which are now held in the collection of the British Museum, were considered to be the work of Mantegna until 1923, when Claude Phillips instigated the notion that the drawings could have in fact been produced by Zoppo. Although fifty drawings in pen and ink on parchment by Zoppo are featured in the volume, the collection of engravings by Novelli contains forty-four plates, with a frontispiece, and two pages of dedication featured alongside. Despite the dedication noting that the series contained fifty plates, only forty-four were produced. The series would have originally been issued as loose plates, so the card portfolio that the plates are now bound within would have been a later addition.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleDisegni Del Mantegna (series title)
Materials and techniques
printer's ink, paper, engraving
Brief description
Plate 18 from Francesco Novelli's 'Disegni Del Mantegna', presenting a bust portrait of a warrior, facing slightly to the right.
Physical description
Engraved bust portrait of a warrior, facing slightly to the right, with production names insribed in lower corners.
Dimensions
  • Sheet height: 396mm
  • Sheet width: 283mm
  • Plate height: 233mm
  • Palte width: 172mm
  • Image height: 162mm
  • Image width: 124mm
Content description
Bust portrait of warrior, turned slightly to the right, wearing a sash tied around his shoulders, and an elaborately decorated helmet. The top of the helmet features an infant, possibly Hercules, on his back, grasping onto a snake. A dragon emerges from between the infant's legs, with its head extending to bite down on the pointed end of the visor. A putto head is featured on the front of the helmet.
Style
Marks and inscriptions
  • 18 (Plate number inscribed in upper right corner of plate)
  • A. Mantegna dis (Inscribed in lower left corner of plate)
  • F. Novelli inc (Inscribed in lower right corner of plate)
Subjects depicted
Associations
Summary
Despite Francecso Novelli’s series of prints being titled ‘Disegni Del Mantegna’, the drawings which the engravings are based upon are in fact those produced by Italian painter and draughtsman Marco Zoppo. Discovered in Padua during the eighteenth century, the drawings were wrongly attributed to Andrea Mantegna by Novelli, resulting in him producing his series of prints in regards to Mantegna. The title-page of the series features a bust portrait of Mantegna, as well as an inscription praising the artist, whilst a majority of the plates feature Mantegna’s name as the draughtsman. The collection of drawings, which are now held in the collection of the British Museum, were considered to be the work of Mantegna until 1923, when Claude Phillips instigated the notion that the drawings could have in fact been produced by Zoppo. Although fifty drawings in pen and ink on parchment by Zoppo are featured in the volume, the collection of engravings by Novelli contains forty-four plates, with a frontispiece, and two pages of dedication featured alongside. Despite the dedication noting that the series contained fifty plates, only forty-four were produced. The series would have originally been issued as loose plates, so the card portfolio that the plates are now bound within would have been a later addition.
Bibliographic reference
260 Popham, A E; Pouncey, Philip, The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, London, BMP, 1950
Collection
Accession number
E.768-1903

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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