Hæc Annibal Carrachius invenit, et Bononiæ in aula Palatij magnanæj depinxit.

RA Collection: Book

Record number

05/869

Variant Title

Storie di Romolo e Remo
Romolo e Remo

Imprint

(Paris): , 1659.

Physical Description

14, [1] pl. (all dble.); 510 mm.

Responsibility Note

Plate 1, besides naming 'Annibal Carrachius' as source-artist, is signed 'Franc. Tortebat delin. et ex. cum privi.' and 'J.L. Po. et J.B. Cælaverunt 1659'. The latter two abbreviations stand for 'Jean le Pautre' and 'Jean Boulanger'. The only other signed plate is no. 8; of which the signature reads 'Franciscus Tortebat delineavit' and 'Chastillon Sculpsit'.

Plate 8 also gives the imprint of the booksellers/publishers: 'et se vendent chez l'ed. Tortebat Rue neuve Ste. Catherine proche la place royale et chez I. Leblond Rue Sainct Iacques à la cloche d'argent à paris'.

References

Bibliothèque Nationale, Inventaire du fonds français Graveurs du XVIIe siècle Tome 11 - Antoine Lepautre, Jacques Lepautre et Jean Lepautre (première partie) par Maxime Préaud (1993), nos. 320-326, p. 178-80; Annibale Carracci e i suoi incisori [exhibition catalogue] (Rome, 1986), p. 28-35.

S.J. Freedberg, Circa 1600: a revolution in style in Italian painting (1983).

Summary Note

Our title is transcribed from the wording below the caption of Plate 1. (In their catalogue of the exhibition Annibale Carracci e i suoi incisori (Rome, 1968) E. Borea and G. Mariani refer to the series as 'Storie di Romolo e Remo'.)

The plates show Annibale Carracci's frescoed frieze in the Palazzo Magnani, Bologna, probably executed in 1589-90. Annibale is believed to have designed the whole frieze, and himself to have painted three of the scenes and part of the ornamental framework. The subject of the frescoes is the story of Romulus and Remus and the founding of Rome (based on the texts of Livy and Plutarch). The last, unnumbered, plate shows the painting executed on the chimney-piece of the room, depicting the Lupercalia. All the plates carry captions in Latin.

Copy Note

Imperfect; lacks pl. 3, 4, 6, 8, 10.

Name as Subject

Subject

Rome - History - Mythology, Roman
Paintings, Italian - Frescoes - Interior decoration - Palaces - Italy - Emilia Romagna - Bologna - Plazzo Magnani - History - 16th century - Baroque
Pictorial works - France - 17th century

Contributors

Annibale Carracci, source artist
François Tortebat, draughtsman, publisher
Jean Lepautre, engraver
Jean Boullanger, engraver
Louis de Châtillon, engraver
Jean Leblond, publisher