Giovanni Mario Verdizotti, The Farmer and Hercules

The Farmer and Hercules, 1570

Giovanni Mario Verdizotti (1525 - 1600)

RA Collection: Art

Giovanni Mario Verizzotti was a priest, humanist and scholar, as well as a painter, designer and engraver, associated with various illustrious persons of his time such as Torquato Tasso and Titian, the latter for whom he acted as secretary and close friend.

The Cento Favole Morali or 'One Hundred Moral Fables' was first published in 1570 by the Venetian publishers Giordano Ziletti. Ziletti is said to have asked Verdizotti to illustrate the fables with his own hand. Each fable is accompanied by one full-page woodcut illustration. Verdizotti based some of his illustrations on Gabriele Faerno’s Fabulae centum ex antiquis autoribus delectae, (Rome, 1563). Verdizotti’s Cento Favole was part of the renewed interest during the Renaissance in the fables of Aesop, and achieved great success during its time, printed in at least 12 editions from 1570-1699.

Object details

Title
The Farmer and Hercules
Drawn by
Engraved by
Published by
Giordano Ziletti (fl. 1549 - 1583)
From
Giovanni Mario Verdizotti, Cento Favole Morale..., Venetia, app. Giordano Ziletti, 1570, p. 161
Date
1570
Object type
Plate
Place of Publication
Venice
Medium
Woodcut engraving
Dimensions

190 mm x 145 mm

Collection
Royal Academy of Arts
Object number
16/2018
This image is from a book

Cento Favole Morali De i piu illustri antichi, & moderni autori Greci, & Latini, Scielte, & trattate in varie maniere di versi volgari da M. Gio. Mario Verdizotti: Nelle quali oltra l'ornamento di varie e belle figure, si contengono molti precetti pertinenti alla prudenza della vita virtuosa & civile. Con privilegio. - In Venetia,: [1570]

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