Suite of six allegorical prints.France, c. 1560-1570.

DELAUNE Etienne (1570)

£1500.00 

MANNERIST ALLEGORY

Six engraved prints, 3 oval, 3 rectangular, all except one white-on-black, plate size c. 80 x 65mm, sheet size 205 x 105mm, sewn together at top (trifle soiled). Three signed with variations of "Cum privilegio regis Stephanus fecit", second Minerva, fourth image Arithmetic, fifth Astronomy, last image "Sacrifice of Abraham".

A rare collection of allegorical engravings by the skilled French mannerist engraver Étienne Delaune, taken from three of his suites of plates. The first three are classical figures; the next two are taken from his series illustrating the liberal arts and sciences - here Aritmetique and Astronomie (with title removed); the last is the "Sacrifice of Abraham" from his Old Testament series. The common factor in all the prints is the exquisite execution of the mannerist borders and, as has often been noted, in his prints he shows a precision and intricacy associated with his original profession as a goldsmith.

There is an emblematic quality to each illustration, with each figure or, as in the final engraving, scene, surrounded not only with related objects, but symbols that require interpretation. The figure of Astronomy, for example, on the fifth leaf, holds an astrolabe and is surrounded by a celestial sphere, a compass, a sextant and a carpenter's square, but also winged snails and two overflowing ewers. The snails 'likely symbolise the opposition between fast and slow in the learning process of the sciences. The idea of moderation is also present in the print, represented by two ewers with their contents overflowing, usually a symbol of temperance, prudency and patience' (see Met Museum catalogue description for Astronomy; open access). In collaboration with his son Jean, Étienne produced a series of more explicitly emblematic plates in 1580, The Pleasures of the World, in praise of virtue. 

Étienne Delaune (Orléans, 1518/19-1583) was trained as an engraver of medals, and worked with Benvenuto Cellini during the latter's stay in Paris from 1540-1545. By 1552, Delaune was employed as chief medallist at the royal mint, founded by Henry II, and in 1556 he furnished designs for Henry's parade armour. His extant prints consist mostly of allegorical subjects within rich, ornamental surrounds and are exceptional for their technical precision despite their often small size. Delaune's rare surviving drawings reveal the influence of Primaticcio and the school of Fontainebleau, and his engravings helped to spread the Fontainebleau style among artists and craftsmen in France and beyond.

Two of the plates from which these engravings have been printed appear to have been slightly reworked, namely, the removal of the title in the Astronomie engraving, and the less crisply defined edge of the oval grotesque of Athene. 

Ref: Per Bjurstrom, Etienne Delaune and the Academy of Poetry and Music, in Master Drawings, 1997, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 351-364.

Stock Code: 47195

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