Henri II entering the Temple of Immortality (or Ignorance Defeated) (cf. Bartsch 43; Zerner A.F. 24)

Details

After Rosso Fiorentino (1494-1540), School of Fontainebleau (Antonio Fantuzzi ?)
Henri II entering the Temple of Immortality (or Ignorance Defeated) (cf. Bartsch 43; Zerner A.F. 24)
engraving, circa 1542, watermark Fleur-de-Lys (cf. Briquet 7082, Paris 1544), a very good impression of this apparently unrecorded print, trimmed to or just into the subject, a paper loss reaching into Rosso's address at the lower left corner, another loss at the lower right corner, a 30 mm. repaired tear at the left sheet edge, some other, shorter tears at the sheet edges elsewhere, a vertical central crease, the subject otherwise in good condition; together with God the Father seated on a Globe in Glory (B. 1; Zerner A.F. 64), attributed to Antonio Fantuzzi, etching, a lunette, circa 1543, possibly after Rosso Fiorentino or Luca Penni, a worn impression of this extremely rare print
S. 280 x 424 mm. (2)

Provenance

Ducs d'Arenberg (L. 567) (on the support sheet of B. 1)

Special Notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium

Sale Room Notice

We are grateful to Catherine Jenkins, Metropolitan Museum of Art, for identifying the engraving Ignorance Defeated (Levron 7; Robert-Dumesnil VIII, 16) by René Boyvin (circa 1525-1625).

Lot Essay

Bartsch records an impression of Henri II entering the Temple of Immortality in Vienna. Zerner attributed it to Antonio Fantuzzi and identified the subject as Ignorance defeated. However, the present impression differs considerably from the recorded impression, in particular in the background, and it remains to be established if these are two states of the same plate or different versions of the same subject.

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