Paolo
Fidanza (fl.1731–1785)
“Life-size study of a head from Raphael’s ‘School of Athens’”
(descriptive title only), 1785, plate 14 in a series of 90 plates published by Bouchard
& Gravier (fl.1750–89) in Volume 1 (of 2) of “Recueil De Têtes Choisies De
Personnages Illustres Dans Les Lettres Et Dans Les Armes Exactement Dessinées Et
Gravées De La Grandeur Des Originaux Par Paul Fidanza Peintre Romain D'Après
Les Peintures De Raphaël D'Urbin Et Autres Grands Maîtres Existantes Au Vatican
Et Dans Plusieurs galeries De Rome Ouvrage Contenant CLXXXX. Planches Tom. I.
(II.)”
Etching on laid paper with full margins and centre crease
(flattened) as published.
Size: (sheet) 35.4 x 46 cm; (plate) 26.8 x 37.3 cm
Inscribed on the plate: (upper left) “Tom I”; (upper right) “14”;
(lower edge) “Testa incognita, che si vede frà Discepoli d’Archimede attenti
alle Dimostrazioni Geometriche nella Scuola d’Atene. Di Rafaelle d’Urbino nel
Palazzo Vaticano. Polo Fidanza del. ed inc.” (Gooble Transl. “Head incognita,
which can be seen among Disciples of the Archimedes attentive to the Geometric
Demonstrations in the School of Athens. Rafaelle d'Urbino in the Vatican
Palace.”
Lifetime impression as published in 1785.
See The Royal Academy for a description of the volume in which
this etching features: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/book/recueil-de-tetes-choisies-de-personnages-illustres-dans-les-lettres-et-dans
See images from this publication: https://www.ursusbooks.com/pages/books/113287/paolo-fidanza/raphael-sanzio-da-urbino-recueil-de-tetes-choises-personages
and https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pythagoras._Etching_by_P._Fidanza_after_Raphael._Wellcome_V0004824.jpg
Condition: crisp and well-inked impression in excellent/near
pristine condition (i.e. there are no significant tears, holes, abrasions,
stains or foxing, but there is a fine line from the original centre fold, which
is now flattened and virtually invisible, and two specks of white in the
printing have been restored).
I am selling this rare and large etching (note that it does not
feature in any of the major museum online repositories) for the total cost of
AU$172 (currently US$134.46/EUR112.03/GBP99.58 at the time of this listing)
including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.
If you are interested in purchasing this academic study after
Raphael, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you
a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.
This print has been sold
By design, Fidanza planned this print to be the same size as one
of the heads of the “discepoli d’Archimede” (disciples of Archimedes) from
Raphael’s fresco, “Scuola di Atene” (The School of Athens), 1509–11. According
to an earlier account of the process used by Fidanza published by “A Society of
Gentlemen” in February 3, 1757 (see W Simpkin and R Marshall, “The Critical
Review: Or, Annals of Literature, Volume 3”, p. 174), Fidanza’s approach to
making copies was to oil a sheet of paper so that I would become transparent
and to then use this transparent paper to trace a copy directly from the
original. Heavens to Betsy! … No wonder the old frescoes have darken with time if they had oily copy sheets placed on them!
After comparing the original with the etching, however, I
doubt very much that this process of tracing directly from the original
actually happened as the etched image is not an exact copy of the Raphael’s original
design at all.
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