Pasquino

Engraving, 1550, signed and dated lower right ANT. LAFRERI FORMIS ROMAE ∞ DL.

The work is attributed to Nicolas Beatrizet da Passavant and, more recently and dubiously, to Silvia Bianchi.

Inscribed on the base of the statue: Io son (come paio) un Babbuino stroppiato, senza piedi, et senza mani, Nemen con glialtri membri sconci et strani, La Simmia son di Niccolo Zoppino. Ma son quel famosißimo Pasquino che tremar faccio i Signor piu soprani, et stupir forastieri, et Paesani Quando compongo in uolgare, o in latino. La mia persona è fatta in tal maniera Per i colpi, e, hor questo hor quel in accocca Per ch’io dico i lor falli a buona cera. Ma infin ch’io ha [= ho] l’usata lingua in bocca Non ne fo stima, anchor che ’l resto pera Et sempre cantaro, Zara a chi tocca Che la gente sciocca Non si uuol rimaner de i falli suoi Chi terrà me’ che no ’l ridica poi.

Example in the first state of three with Lafreri’s address; the plate was later reprinted by Giovanni Orlandi. Derived from a similar engraving published by Antonio Salamanca. “Several copies exist of this motif, two or more of which were probably in Lafreri's possession and this one may have gone to Claudio Duchetti, while a second was bequeathed to Stefano Duchetti. The plate with Lafreri's address is a copy of the Salamanca engraving of 1542 (BNC Rome 18.6.G.5, fol. 2a)” (cf. Rubach no. 337).

Magnificent proof, richly toned impressed on contemporary laid paper with "duck in a circle" watermark (cf. Woodward nos. 79-80), with margins at sides, in excellent condition.

“Attributed to the sculptor Antigonus of Karyostos, the statue of the celebrated Pasquino dates from the first century BC. The exquisite workmanship of the piece was judged by Bernini and other artists to be "one of the best statues in Rome." The sculpture was part of the collection of the Neapolitan cardinal Oliviero Carafa, who in 1501 wished to display it for public enjoyment, placing it in Piazza Parione on a plinth that bore an engraved epigraph: OLIVERII CARAFFAE BENEFICIO HIC SUM ANNO SALUTIS MDI [I am here by the munificence of Oliviero Carafa, 1501]. The coat of arms of the donor, Cardinal Carafa, is visible on the base of Lafréry's engraving. The statue soon became the sacred place for the satire of the Roman people, especially in the period from 1501, the date of its placement, to 1870, which marked the end of the Papal State. For Rome, Pasquino has always been a symbol of civic freedom, and nothing better than Trilussa's poem can testify to this fact” (translation from C. Marigliani, Lo splendore di Roma nell’Arte incisoria del Cinquecento).

The work belongs to the Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, the earliest iconography of ancient Rome.

The Speculum originated in the publishing activities of Antonio Salamanca and Antonio Lafreri (Lafrery). During their Roman publishing careers, the two editors-who worked together between 1553 and 1563-started the production of prints of architecture, statuary, and city views related to ancient and modern Rome. The prints could be purchased individually by tourists and collectors, but they were also purchased in larger groups that were often bound together in an album. In 1573, Lafreri commissioned a frontispiece for this purpose, where the title Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae appears for the first time. Upon Lafreri's death, two-thirds of the existing copperplates went to the Duchetti family (Claudio and Stefano), while another third was distributed among several publishers. Claudio Duchetti continued the publishing activity, implementing the Speculum plates with copies of those "lost" in the hereditary division, which he had engraved by the Milanese Amborgio Brambilla. Upon Claudio's death (1585) the plates were sold - after a brief period of publication by the heirs, particularly in the figure of Giacomo Gherardi - to Giovanni Orlandi, who in 1614 sold his printing house to the Flemish publisher Hendrick van Schoel. Stefano Duchetti, on the other hand, sold his own plates to the publisher Paolo Graziani, who partnered with Pietro de Nobili; the stock flowed into the De Rossi typography passing through the hands of publishers such as Marcello Clodio, Claudio Arbotti and Giovan Battista de Cavalleris. The remaining third of plates in the Lafreri division was divided and split among different publishers, some of them French: curious to see how some plates were reprinted in Paris by Francois Jollain in the mid-17th century. Different way had some plates printed by Antonio Salamanca in his early period; through his son Francesco, they goes to Nicolas van Aelst's. Other editors who contributed to the Speculum were the brothers Michele and Francesco Tramezzino (authors of numerous plates that flowed in part to the Lafreri printing house), Tommaso Barlacchi, and Mario Cartaro, who was the executor of Lafreri's will, and printed some derivative plates. All the best engravers of the time - such as Nicola Beatrizet (Beatricetto), Enea Vico, Etienne Duperac, Ambrogio Brambilla, and others  - were called to Rome and employed for the intaglio of the works.

All these publishers-engravers and merchants-the proliferation of intaglio workshops and artisans helped to create the myth of the Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, the oldest and most important iconography of Rome. The first scholar to attempt to systematically analyze the print production of 16th-century Roman printers was Christian Hülsen, with his Das Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae des Antonio Lafreri of 1921. In more recent times, very important have been the studies of Peter Parshall (2006) Alessia Alberti (2010), Birte Rubach and Clemente Marigliani (2016). 

Bibliografia

C. Hülsen, Das Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae des Antonio Lafreri (1921), n. 71/A; cfr. Peter Parshall, Antonio Lafreri's 'Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, in “Print Quarterly”, 1 (2006); B. Rubach, Ant. Lafreri Formis Romae (2016), n. 337, I/III; A. Alberti, L’indice di Antonio Lafrery (2010), n. 84, I/III; Marigliani, Lo splendore di Roma nell’Arte incisoria del Cinquecento (2016), n. V.56; cfr, D. Woodward, Catalogue of watermarks in Italian printed maps 1540 – 1600 (1996); S. Bianchi, Catalogo dell’opera incisa di Nicolas Beatrizet, p. 7, n. D.22/A.