Niccolò VICENTINO: Saint Peter and Saint John, after PARMIGIANINO - 1540’s

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Niccolò VICENTINO : Saint Pierre et Saint Jean, d’après Parmigianino - Verso - Sarah Sauvin

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Chiaroscuro woodcut from 3 blocks, 156 x 108 mm. Bartsch 26 (attributed to Ugo da Carpi), 1st state (of 2); Naoko Takahatake p. 258, note 9.

Impression of the 1st state (of 2) before Andrea Andreani’s monogram in the upper left part on the shadow’s block.

Very fine impression printed in light brown, dark brown and black on laid watermarked paper (part of a circle on the right border of the sheet; many 16th century Italian watermarks are inscribed within a simple circle like this one). In excellent condition. A tiny pinhole in Saint Peter’s right arm. Small margins all around the borderline (sheet: 167 x 120 mm).

Saint Peter and Saint John, after having been long attributed to Ugo da Carpi, was recently reattributed to Niccolò Vicentino by Naoko Takahatake. To come to this conclusion, she analysed the part played by the different woodblocks in the make-up of the composition. Taking into account a series of nine chiaroscuro woodcuts she concluded were by Vicentino, among which Saint Peter and Saint John and The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, Naoko Takahatake writes: “The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, meanwhile, belongs to a group of unsigned chiaroscuros primarily after designs by Raphael and drawings by Parmigianino that have traditionally been given to Ugo. Yet all deploy the three-block method in a manner that finds little similarity with Ugo's signed works, but shows close affinity with Vicentino. In these prints, the main outlines of the composition are held in the mid-tone block, whereas in none of Ugo's signed chiaroscuros from three or more blocks does a single block carry so much of the design.” (Print Quarterly, p. 258).

For his impressions, Niccolò Vicentino used a large palette of colours. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has an impression printed in very light brown, light brown and grey. Christie’s sold an impression printed in black, grey and olive on 15 July 2020. The British Museum has an impression printed in tones very similar to our own. Generally Linda Stiber Morenus notes that “Vicentino’s palette tends to be high-contrast, including browns, greys, olive-greens, vibrant greens, violets, mustard, ochres, reds, siennas and salmon. Usually, the pigments are ground so coarsely that the ink films are grainy and particles can be discerned with the unaided eye.” (Printing Colour, p. 130). Our impression does display this granular effect, mainly in the lightest brown plate.

The original drawing by Parmigianino is in the Musée du Louvre in Paris (inv. n° 6396; see detailed note here). Its dimensions, 152 x 90 mm, are very close to the woodcut.

The woodblocks were reprinted by Andrea Andreani, who added his monogram in the upper left corner. This monogram characterises the second state, of which an impression is in the British Museum.

References: Ad Stijnman and Elizabeth Savage: Printing Colour 1400-1700: History, Techniques, Functions and Receptions, 2015; NaokoTakahatake: “Niccolò Vicentino’s ‘Miraculous Draught of Fishes’” in Print Quarterly, 2011, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 256‑60; Naoko Takahatake and Jonathan Bober (dir.): The chiaroscuro woodcut in Renaissance Italy. 2018.