Marcantonio Raimondi's engraving, “The Lion Hunt”, c1519

Marcantonio Raimondi (1470/1482–1527/1534)

“The Lion Hunt”, c1519 (1510–27), published by Antonio Salamanca (1478–1562), after Baldassare Peruzzi (aka Baldassare Siena) (1481–1536), after a bas-relief on an ancient sarcophagus.

The curator of the British Museum offers the following insights about the designs that this engraving references:

“After Peruzzi's drawing now at Chatsworth inspired by an antique sarcophagus with scenes of a lion hunt now part of the decoration of the Casino Rospigliosi in Rome and according to Vasari, was located in the sixteenth century in the atrium of Old St. Peters” (BM no. H,3.480).

Engraving on laid paper trimmed within the image borderline (largely on the left and with loss of the lettered text below the image borderline) with numerous restorations and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 23.1 x 35.1 cm

TIB 27(14).422(317) (Konrad Oberhuber [ed.] 1978, “The Illustrated Bartsch: The Works of Marcantonio Raimondi and of His School”, vol. 27, New York, Abaris Books, p. 110); Bober & Rubinstein 1987 199a; Delaborde 1888 222.193; Le Blanc 1854-89 266; Passavant 1860-64 VI.39.247; Bartsch XIV.317.422

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“A lion hunt with nine male and female armed figures, two of which are on horseback; a fallen stag at centre and a small dog at right”

https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1437619&partId=1&searchText=lion+hunt&page=1

See also the description offered by the Rijksmuseum:

(Google transl.) “Soldiers or hunters on horseback and save on foot for attack of lions. A deer is killed and lies at the feet of a woman dressed in armour. Below the performance is a Latin inscription that refers to the origin of this performance.”

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.345630

Condition: crisp impression but in poor condition with many restorations. The sheet has been trimmed significantly on the right side and within the borderline on the other sides with loss of the lettered text and has been laid upon an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper.

I am selling this exceptionally rare but very damaged (now restored) engraving executed within a few years of Leonardo completing his “Mona Lisa” (La Gioconda) and well before Michelangelo even started on his “Last Judgement”, for AU$487 (currently US$347.24/EUR306.68/GBP265.69 at the time of posting this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world (but not, of course, any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries).

If you are interested in purchasing this masterwork by Raimondi that is seldom seen on the art market, 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