Technique: Copper engraving on

Date: c. 1610

Description: After an antique statue, depicted in a conch. From: Antiquarum statuarum urbis Romae liber primus, P. Thomassin, 1610. After the publication of Giovanni Battista de Cavalieri's engraving work "Antiquarum Statuarum Urbis Romae Tertius et Quartus Liber (1594), it is regarded as the first work with independent engravings after antique statues, personally drawn and engraved by Philippe Thomassin. The French engraver was Jacques Callot's first teacher and created over 430 engravings, many of them after paintings by Italian masters such as Michelangelo.

In all, the work involves the illustration of 50 ancient statues, all of which were set up in conchs. 23 of them come from the Borghese Collection, 5 from the Capitoline Collection, four each from the Medici Collection and the Farnese Collection, 3 from Rome: Palazzo Apostolico, Cortile del Belvedere, Statuary Courtyard and one from the Cesarini Collection. The others are without indication of location. On the dating: 1610 is considered the terminus post quem due to the existence of a statue from the Borghese collection from the estate of Guglielmo della Porta (sold to Giovanni Battista Borghese in 1609); terminus ante quem: 1622. Inscribed below the depiction within the printing plate: "Venus in uiridario Cardinalis Burghesij".

From the estate of the antiquarian Rosenthal Munich / Amsterdam.

Keywords: 17th century, Figurative, Mythology, Italy,