Allegory of the Barberini Family

Minerva and a young prince at right, grotto inhabited by river gods at centre, nymphs embroidering the Barberini coat of arms at upper centre. Thesis print of Marcello Sauli: “In May 1624, a young Genoese nobleman, Marcello Sauli, defended philosophical theses at the Collegio Romano, dedicating them to Cardinal Francesco Barberini. Marcello was the great-nephew of Cardinal Antonio Maria Sauli, who had died only nine months earlier as dean of the college of cardinals, and nephew of Tomaso and Vincenzo Sauli who had recently been appointed private bankers to Cardinal Francesco. He was, in other words, a very well connected young man and his defense was an especially splendid occasion, attended not only by Cardinal Francesco, but also by his brothers Don Taddeo and Don Antonio Barberini, along with sixteen other cardinals and a whole crowd of prelates and noblemen. The print Sauli commissioned to decorate his thesis broadsheet was engraved by Johann Friedrich Greuter after a design by Giovanni Lanfranco. It represents a young prince who has arrived by boat on a distant shore and is there accompanied by Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, who reveals to him a mysterious grotto inhabited by river gods. A shield emblazoned with the Sauli arms hanging from the tree just over the prince's shoulder associates him generically with the student. Bees make their hives in the arched vaults of the cave. Outside, in the open air, nymphs ply their needles in a graceful exercise in embroidery, while their sisters reward their labor with sweet chunks of honeycomb. The subject, although rare (or possibly even unprecedented) in the visual arts, is based on a passage in a familiar text, Homer's Odyssey” (cf. Louise Rice, Apes philosophicae: bees and the divine design in Barberini thesis prints, p. 181).

Engraving, 1624 circa, signed at lower right. After Giovanni Lanfranco. Example of the second state of three, with Lanfranco’s name added.

Magnificent proof, printed on contemporary laid paper, with margins, two repaired paper folds, otherwise in good condition.

Through to the work of reformers such as Ignatius of Loyola, by 1600 Rome had become a city of schools. The University of Rome, founded in the early 14th century, was joined by the Collegio Romano, founded by the Jesuits in 1551, the Seminario Romano, various national schools (including the Germanic College, the Greek College, and the English College) - dedicated to the education of young Catholics from non-Catholic countries - the Collegio Clementino, and many other minor colleges and academies. These institutions represented important new markets for printing. Professors published books that required title pages, while students celebrated their academic achievements by publishing flyers and brochures richly decorated with engravings. The impact of all this on the printing industry was considerable. At the beginning of the 17th century, Rome's educational institutions were among the city's most important consumers of printed matter. The academic year was punctuated by thesis discussions, events of fundamental importance within the system, which allowed the most gifted and talented students to showcase their eloquence and erudition before an elite audience. Thesis discussions generated a large amount of printed material, as well as the most elaborate. The broadsheets (a term used to describe individual printed publications that do not belong to a book or collection) listing the ‘conclusions’, or theses, that the student would discuss became essential accessories, which, over time, were embellished with engravings rich in artistic and iconographic virtuosity, giving rise to a fashion that would last more than a hundred years.

Prints designed and produced specifically to decorate the broadsheets first appeared in the mid-1580s, and by 1590 it was common practice for students to commission large and impressive heraldic-allegorical compositions to accompany their defenses. From the outset, these prints were not only decorative but also had a celebratory function. The Jesuits encouraged their students to dedicate their theses to important and influential figures, knowing that an elegant and well-received dedication had the potential to promote not only the defender's career prospects but also the reputation of the college. The conclusion thus served the same purpose as the dedication: both were designed to oil the mechanisms of patronage.

Among the leading artists/engravers who specialized in this new graphic market were Matthaeus and his son Johann Friedrich Greuter, who clearly enjoyed a special relationship with the Jesuits, judging by the number of prints they made for them and their students. Matthaeus may have established a connection with the Society even before leaving France; and among the Jesuits based in Rome were influential Germans who may have given him a helping hand when he first arrived there in 1603. This would explain how he managed to get off to a good start, completing several large conclusions for students at the Roman College and the Germanic College before the end of 1604. After gaining a foothold in the college market, he quickly established himself as one of the leading producers of conclusions in Rome. Fifty-eight prints of Matthaeus' theses are listed in The New Hollstein, but he certainly engraved more. At least a dozen unlisted ones exist, and since he did not always sign his plates, there are probably many more yet to be identified.

These theses, although probably printed in large numbers, are now very rare, and only a few copies are recorded in institutional collections around the world. Jorg Diefenbacher (cf. The Greuter Family part III, J. F. Greuter, p. 84) list only 6 institutional examples of this engraving.

Bibliografia

Louise Rice, Matthaeus Greuter and the Conclusion Industry in Seventeenth-Century Rome, in “Ein Priviilegiertes Medium und die Bildkulturen Europas, Deutsche, Franzosische und Niederlandische Kupferstecher und Graphikvetleger in Rom von 1590 bis 1630” Ròmische Studien der Bibliotheca Hertziana b.de 32, pp. 221-238; Jorg Diefembacher, The Greuter Family part III, J. F. Greuter, in “The New Hollstein”, n. 48 II/III; Louise Rice, Apes philosophicae: bees and the divine design in Barberini thesis prints, pp. 181-185, fig. 1.