Michael Angelus Bonarota Tuscorum Flos Delibatus Duarum Artium Pulcherrimaru' Humanæ Vitæ Vicariarum Picturæ Statuariæ Que Suo Penitus Sæculo Extinctaru' Alter Inventor Faciebat
RA Collection: Book
Record number
03/2143
Variant Title
Last Judgment
Imprint
(Io. Iacob. de Rubeis Formis, Romæ ad Templ. Sa. Ma. de Pace cum Privil. S. P.): [ca. 1677?]
Physical Description
[11] leaves of plates; 494×600 mm.
General Note
The first sheet carries two unnumbered plates. The remaining ten sheets carry one irregularly shaped plate each, lettered A-I, L. Plates A-H are here printed in what M. and R.E. Lewis describe as their second state (with capital letters added, and nudes remaining undraped); plate I is in its fifth state (carrying letter I; with caption 'Michel Angelus Bonarota ...' erased and replaced by a dedication ' AllIllmo. Sig. Et Pron. Colmo. Il Sig. Mathia Di Merve ...' but with the names of the dedicator and publisher erased; nudes undraped); plate L is in its fifth state (carrying the signature of Ghisi (Georgius Mantuanus) and letter L, but with names of publishers Fachetto and Van Aelst deleted and that of de Rossi (De Rubeis) substituted; nudes undraped).
Responsibility Note
On the first sheet the portrait of Michelangelo is signed 'GMF' (i.e. Georgius Mantuanus Fecit); the print of the whole fresco is signed 'Seb. Fulcarus... reinciditque. SF'. Only plate L carries Ghisi's signature, 'Georgius Mantuanus Fecit'.
The publisher's name is engraved on plate L, 'Io. Iacob. de Rubeis formis', and on Fulcarus's plate on the first sheet, 'Gio. Jacomo Rossi formis'.
On plate I is engraved the dedication to Matthys van de Merwede. (This was written by Giacomo Cenci for Vincenzo Cenci's printing of 1650, but the Cenci names have deen deleted by Rossi).
References
L'opera incisa di Giorgio Ghisi, ed. P. Bellini [exhibition catalogue] (1998), nos. 50, 51, p.210-25; S. Boorsch, M. & R.E. Lewis, The engravings of Giorgio Ghisi (1985), no.9. A survey of reproductions of the Sistine frescoes is A. Moltedo, La Sistina riprodotta [exhibition catalogue] (1991).
On the printers De Rossi see A. Grelle Iusco, Indice delle stampe De Rossi: contributo alla storia di una stamperia romana (1996).
Summary Note
This collection of plates has no title-page; the title is taken from the first of the two plates printed on the first sheet - Ghisi's print of the head of Michelangelo. G. G. de Rossi's publication of them is mentioned in his 'Indice delle stampe' of 1677. The publication is a reprint of Ghisi's ten irregularly-shaped plates reproducing Michelangelo's wall-painting of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican Palace; these are preceded by a sheet carrying Ghisi's portrait of Michelangelo and an overall engraving of Michelangelo's fresco by 'Seb. Fulcarus'.
Michelangelo's fresco was painted between 1535 and 1541, and Ghisi's engravings of it were probably made ca. 1544, based on drawings by Marcello Venusti. The portrait of Michelangelo was probably made by Ghisi shortly after Michelangelo's death (1564); it is based on a painting by Marcello Venuti, which is itself a version of a portrait by Jacopino del Conte.
Provenance
Recorded in RAA Library, Catalogue, 1802.
Binding Note
20th-century black half calf, green cloth boards; retaining earlier spine-label, lettered, 'Arcus August Bellori'. Bound with 'Veteres Arcus Augustorum ... Io. Petri Bellorii' (Rome: 1690).
Mural paintings, Italian - Mural painting and decoration, Italian - Paintings, Italian - Paintings, European - Church decoration and ornament - Chapels - Churches, Italian - Palaces, Italian - Italy - Rome - Vatican City - Vatican Palace (Vatican City) - Cappella Sistina (Vatican Palace, Vatican City) - History - 16th century - Renaissance
Last Judgment - Future life - Christian art and symbolism - Iconography
Pictorial works - Italy - 17th century