Tuesday, January 2, 2018

After Baldassare Peruzzi of Siena and Rome

Giovanni Battista Cecchi after a drawing by Ignazio Enrico Hugford
Portrait of Baldassare Peruzzi, Sienese Painter and Architect
1769-75
etching, published in Florence
British Museum

"Then in the year 1527, when the cruel sack of Rome took place, our poor Baldassare was taken prisoner by the Spaniards, and not only lost all his possessions, but was also much maltreated and outraged, because he was grave, noble, and gracious of aspect, and they believed him to be some great prelate in disguise, or some other man able to pay a fat ransom.  Finally, however, these impious barbarians having found that he was a painter, one of them, who had borne a great affection to Bourbon, caused him to make a portrait of that most rascally captain, the enemy of God and man, either letting Baldassare see him as he lay dead, or giving him his likeness in some other way, with drawings or words.  After this, having slipped from their hands, Baldassare took ship to go to Porto Ercole, and thence to Siena; but on the way he was robbed of everything and stripped to such purpose, that he went to Siena in his shirt.  However, he was received with honour and reclothed by his friends, and a little time afterwards he was given a provision and a salary by the Commonwealth, to the end that he might give his attention to the fortification of that city.  Living there, he had two children; and, besides what he did for the public service, he made many designs of houses for his fellow citizens, and the design for the ornament of the organ, which is very beautiful, in the Church of the Carmine."

"Meanwhile, the armies of the Emperor and the Pope had advanced to the siege of Florence, and his Holiness sent Baldassare to the camp to Baccio Valori, the Military Commissary, to the end that Baccio might avail himself of his services for the purposes of his operations and for the capture of the city.  But Baldassare, loving the liberty of his former country more than the favour of the Pope, and in no way fearing the indignation of so great a Pontiff, would never lend his aid in any matter of importance.  The Pope, hearing of this, for a short time bore him no little ill-will; but when the war was finished, Baldassare desiring to return to Rome, Cardinals Salviati, Trivulzi, and Cesarino, to all of whom he had given faithful service in many works, restored  him to the favour of the Pope and to his former appointments."

– Giorgio Vasari, from the life of Baldassare Peruzzi in The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects (1568), translated by Gaston du C. de Vere (1912)

Marcantonio Raimondi after a drawing now at Chatsworth by Baldassare Peruzzi
Roman Sarcophagus-relief with Lion Hunt
ca. 1510-27
engraving
British Museum

Anonymous Roman copyist after a lost drawing by Baldassare Peruzzi
Discovery of the True Cross
ca. 1515-20
drawing
British Museum

Anonymous Roman copyist after a lost drawing by Baldassare Peruzzi
Decapitation of a group of Martyrs
ca. 1510-1600
drawing
British Museum

Anonymous Roman copyist after a fresco by Baldassare Peruzzi
Noah's wife with two of her children
from the ceiling of the Stanza d'Eliodoro in the Vatican
ca. 1520-1600
drawing
British Museum

Giovanni da Brescia after a drawing in the British Museum by Baldassare Peruzzi
Joseph's cup found in Benjamin's sack
ca. 1520
engraving
British Museum

Ugo da Carpi after a lost drawing by Baldassare Peruzzi
Apollo directing Hercules to drive Avarice from the Temple of the Muses
ca. 1522-24
chiaroscuro woodcut
British Museum

Hieronymus Cock after a lost exterior fresco by Baldassare Peruzzi
Mars and Venus observed by the Olympian Gods
1553
engraving
British Museum

Gijsbert van Veen after a painted panorama by Baldassare Peruzzi
Wedding of Rebekah and Isaac (plate 1)
1585
four-plate engraving
British Museum

Gijsbert van Veen after a painted panorama by Baldassare Peruzzi
Wedding of Rebekah and Isaac (plate 2)
1585
four-plate engraving
British Museum

Gijsbert van Veen after a painted panorama by Baldassare Peruzzi
Wedding of Rebekah and Isaac (plate 3)
1585
four-plate engraving
British Museum

Gijsbert van Veen after a painted panorama by Baldassare Peruzzi
Wedding of Rebekah and Isaac (plate 4)
1585
four-plate engraving
British Museum

Anne-Claude de Caylus after a drawing in the Crozat collection by Baldassare Peruzzi
Stucco Reliefs on the Colosseum, Rome
ca. 1729-40
etching
British Museum

Stefano Mulinari after a fresco by Baldassare Peruzzi 
Jupiter and Europa with Bull, standing on clouds
ca. 1760-90
etching, based on an intermediate drawing by Pietro da Cortona
British Museum

Stefano Mulinari after a fresco by Baldassare Peruzzi 
Saturn, Cupid, and Venus standing on clouds
ca. 1760-90
etching, based on an intermediate drawing by Pietro da Cortona
British Museum

Stefano Mulinari after a fresco by Baldassare Peruzzi
Venus standing on a shell, drying her hair
ca. 1760-90
etching, based on an intermediate drawing by Pietro da Cortona
British Museum