Lorenzo Loli’s etching, “Coat of Arms of Guasta Vilani”, c1645, after Giovanni Andrea Sirani

Lorenzo Loli (1612–1691)

“Coat of Arms of Guasta Vilani” (TIB title) (aka “Three putti with the coat of arms of Cardinal Filippo Guastavillani” [Rijksmuseum title]), 1630–1660, after the design by Lorenzo Loli’s teacher, Giovanni Andrea Sirani (1610–1670).

Note that the British Museum holds two copies of this etching in reverse by Abraham van der Borcht (1625–1690) and Jacques de Gheyn III (1596–1641) (?):

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_U-3-196;

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG28818.

Etching on laid paper trimmed along the platemark with a portion of a collector’s stamp on the lower edge and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 19.7 x 14.2 cm; (image borderline) 19.5 x 14 cm.

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (on escutcheon) “ALL ILLVSTRISIMO/ SIGNOR/ ET PATRON COLENDISIMO/ IL SIGNOR/ FILIPO/ GVASTA VILANI./ …/ …/ … D.D.D.”; (lower edge at left) “I. A. Sirano. In.”; (lower edge at right) “L. LL. F.”

TIB 42 (19). 26 (179) (Walter L Strauss & John T Spike [eds.] 1981, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Italian Masters of the Seventeenth Century” vol. 42, p. 152); Bartsch XIX.179.26 (Adam Bartsch 1803, “Le Peintre graveur”, vol. 19).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Two putti holding an escutcheon with the name of Filippo Vilani, to which a third points; after Sirani”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1895-1031-115;

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_U-3-197).

Condition: a well-printed impression, trimmed along the platemark and laid upon an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper. Beyond faint stains in the upper right corner and on the legs of the two lower putti, the sheet is in a good condition for its considerable age with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this marvellous example of etching in the Baroque period, featuring boldly drawn putti engaged in the clearly strenuous task of supporting the coat of arms of Cardinal Filippo Guastavillani (1541–1587), for AU$308 (currently US$231.88/EUR191.12/GBP175.48 at the time of this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) 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 rare and early etching, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.