Jacopo Caraglio - Battle between Hercules and Centaurs - WGA04071

Jacopo Caraglio, Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio or Gian Giacomo Caraglio (c. 1500/1505 – 26 August 1565) known also as ''Jacobus Parmensis'' and ''Jacobus Veronensis'' was an Italian engraver,

goldsmith A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made silverware, platters, goblets, decorative and servicea ...

and

medallist A medalist (or medallist) is an artist who designs medals, plaquettes, badges, metal medallions, coins and similar small works in relief in metal. Historically, medalists were typically also involved in producing their designs, and were usually ...

, born at

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second m ...

. His career falls easily into two rather different halves: he worked in Rome from 1526 or earlier as an engraver in collaboration with leading artists, and then in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, before moving to spend the rest of his life as a court goldsmith in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, where he died. In Italy, he was one of the first reproductive

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...

s, rendering versions of specially made drawings (mostly) or paintings rather than creating new works for the print medium, although detailed comparison of surviving drawings with the prints made from them show he had input into the creative process. He was in Rome at the brief period when the small but flourishing printmaking industry created by Raphael working with engravers to diffuse his work had been disrupted by Raphael's sudden death in 1520, cutting off the supply of new designs, and other artists were recruited fill the gap.

A. Hyatt Mayor Alpheus Hyatt Mayor (1901–1980) was an American art historian and curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a leading figure in the study of prints, both old master prints and popular prints. A. Hyatt Mayor's father was marine biologist Alfre ...

describes Caraglio as "the most individual member of the group", who had a particular influence on French printmaking of the First

School of Fontainebleau The School of Fontainbleau (french: École de Fontainebleau) (c. 1530 – c. 1610) refers to two periods of artistic production in France during the late Renaissance centered on the royal Palace of Fontainebleau that were crucial in forming the No ...

, although unlike Rosso he never went there.Mayor, 341 His skill in engraving was available to artists developing the early style of full-blown

Mannerism Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ital ...

, and played a significant role in diffusing advanced Mannerist style around Italy and Europe.

Life

Italy

Caraglio was probably trained as a goldsmith before learning advanced engraving techniques from

Marcantonio Raimondi Marcantonio Raimondi, often called simply Marcantonio (c. 1470/82 – c. 1534), was an Italian engraver, known for being the first important printmaker whose body of work consists largely of prints copying paintings. He is therefore a key figu ...

, in whose circle in Rome he first appears in records in 1526.

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual ...

's former associate il Baviera, who probably acted as his "publisher", introduced him to Rosso Fiorentino, with whom he collaborated on numerous prints, including sets of ''The Labours of Hercules'' ( Bartsch 44–49), ''Pagan Divinities in Niches'' (Bartsch 24–43) and ''Loves of the Gods'' (Bartsch 9-23). He

engraved gem An engraved gem, frequently referred to as an intaglio, is a small and usually semi-precious gemstone that has been carved, in the Western tradition normally with images or inscriptions only on one face. The engraving of gemstones was a major lux ...

s and designed and cast

medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

s as well as producing reproductive

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...

s after the works of Rosso,

Parmigianino Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (11 January 150324 August 1540), also known as Francesco Mazzola or, more commonly, as Parmigianino (, , ; "the little one from Parma"), was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker active in Florence, Rome, B ...

Giulio Romano Giulio Romano (, ; – 1 November 1546), is the acquired name of Giulio Pippi, who was an Italian painter and architect. He was a pupil of Raphael, and his stylistic deviations from High Renaissance classicism help define the sixteenth-cent ...

Baccio Bandinelli Baccio Bandinelli (also called Bartolommeo Brandini; 12 November 1493 – shortly before 7 February 1560), was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, draughtsman, and painter. Biography Bandinelli was the son of a prominent Florentine goldsmith, ...

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was ins ...

, and

Perino del Vaga Perino (or Perin) del Vaga (nickname of Piero Bonaccorsi) (1501 – October 19, 1547) was an Italian painter and draughtsman of the Late Renaissance/ Mannerism. Biography Perino was born near Florence. His father ruined himself by gambling, ...

. Bartsch records 65 prints, though missing perhaps another five. His style is summarized by Françoise Jestaz: "Numbered with

Agostino dei Musi Agostino Veneziano ("Venetian Agostino"), whose real name was Agostino de' Musi (c. 1490 – c. 1540), was an important and prolific Italian engraver of the Renaissance. Life Veneziano was born in Venice, where he trained as an artist, though h ...

and

Marco Dente Marco Dente da Ravenna (1493–1527), usually just called Marco Dente, was an Italian engraver born in Ravenna in the latter part of the 15th Century. He was a prominent figure within the circle of printmakers around Marcantonio Raimondi in Rome, ...

in the Roman school of engravers in the circle of Raimondi, Caraglio showed a greater freedom of line. With Rosso Fiorentino and Parmigianino, he discovered new modelling effects with subtler lighting and more animated forms, for example in his engraving of

Diogenes Diogenes ( ; grc, Διογένης, Diogénēs ), also known as Diogenes the Cynic (, ) or Diogenes of Sinope, was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynicism (philosophy). He was born in Sinope, an Ionian colony on the Black Sea ...

(b. 61) and in the first state of the Rape of the Sabine Women (b. 63)." He worked from drawings created by Rosso and others for the purpose, and a proof of a print after Rosso at

Chatsworth House Chatsworth House is a stately home in the Derbyshire Dales, north-east of Bakewell and west of Chesterfield, England. The seat of the Duke of Devonshire, it has belonged to the Cavendish family since 1549. It stands on the east bank of the ...

has a landscape background in pen added to printed figures, presumably by one of the two, Rosso's initial drawing having only included the figures. He worked closely with Rosso and Parmigianino, and a number of their drawings for his prints survive, usually at the same size and in the reverse sense of the prints. His ''Loves of the Gods'' were, with ''

I Modi ''I Modi'' (''The Ways''), also known as ''The Sixteen Pleasures'' or under the Latin title ''De omnibus Veneris Schematibus'', is a famous erotic book of the Italian Renaissance in which a series of sexual positions were explicitly depicted in ...

'', one of the "two best-known series of Renaissance erotic prints", and altogether one of the most successful Renaissance print series. Unlike ''I Modi'' they successfully avoided censorship by avoiding depicting genitals and actual penetration in favour of "slung leg" positions, and by virtue of their ostensibly mythological subjects. This was despite one showing two males, Apollo and Hyacinthus, together, if not actually making love. Both sets were much copied, with five different copies of Caraglio's set, and in 1550 a dealer bought 250 sets of French copies, a very large number for the time. They were even used as sources for illustrations in medical textbooks later in the century, as well as one of a set of Flemish tapestries of about 1550, now in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York. The first two designs were by Rosso, but the pair then fell out, and Pierino did most of the rest, probably with an unknown weaker artist contributing some designs. Caraglio's prints were also often used as sources to be expanded into designs for

maiolica Maiolica is tin-glazed pottery decorated in colours on a white background. Italian maiolica dating from the Renaissance period is the most renowned. When depicting historical and mythical scenes, these works were known as ''istoriato'' wares ...

. Caraglio fled to Venice on the Sack of Rome in 1527, in which his colleague

was killed, and the whole circle dispersed. He seems to have remained there until at least 1537, working with Titian and others.

Poland

In 1539 he is recorded at the Polish court of Sigismund I. He had probably been introduced there through Pietro Aretino, a friend in Venice, and his contacts with the circle of the Italian-born Polish Queen

Bona Sforza Bona Sforza d'Aragona (2 February 1494 – 19 November 1557) was Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania as the second wife of Sigismund I the Old, and Duchess of Bari and Rossano by her own right. She was a surviving member of ...

(1494–1557), such as Allesandro Pessenti, Bona's organist. In Poland he mostly worked for the court on medals, gems and goldsmithing rather than

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniqu ...

Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculpt ...

presents this as, in Caraglio's view, a step up the

hierarchy of genres A hierarchy of genres is any formalization which ranks different genres in an art form in terms of their prestige and cultural value. In literature, the epic was considered the highest form, for the reason expressed by Samuel Johns ...

and as offering a better social position, and indeed the status of printmaking was on the decline as the merely reproductive print, commissioned by publishers, had largely driven out the original print. The Renaissance

was a novelty in the Polish court, but promoted by Bona, and in July 1539 Caraglio wrote to Aretino enclosing two medals, one of Pesenti and the other of Bona, the first evidence of his presence in Poland. Some copies of the former survive, but none of Bona's medal, as of some other recorded ones Caraglio made in Poland. Only one copy survives of the medal he made of Sigismund I in 1538 from the gold sent as

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment ...

for the wedding of Elizabeth of Austria (1526–1545), the first wife of the future Sigismund II, which was handed out to wedding guests. Caraglio Medal of Sigismund Augustus

Caraglio was appointed royal goldsmith to Sigismund I in 1545, with a salary (probably more a retainer in modern terms) of 60 zloty, and continued serving under

Sigismund II Augustus Sigismund II Augustus ( pl, Zygmunt II August, lt, Žygimantas Augustas; 1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. He was the first ruler ...

from 1548, when Sigismund I died. Having taken citizenship in Krakow, he was knighted (as ''equitatis aureati''), with a patent of nobility, in April 1552, after which he made a brief return trip to Italy. It was presumably on this visit that the portrait now in the

Wawel Castle The Wawel Royal Castle (; ''Zamek Królewski na Wawelu'') and the Wawel Hill on which it sits constitute the most historically and culturally significant site in Poland. A fortified residency on the Vistula River in Kraków, it was established ...

in Krakow by

Paris Bordone Paris Bordone (Paris Paschalinus Bordone; 5 July 1500 – 19 January 1571) was an Italian painter of the Venetian Renaissance who, despite training with Titian, maintained a strand of Mannerist complexity and provincial vigor. Biography Bord ...

was made to celebrate his knighthood. The royal white eagle has the monogram of Sigismund II on its chest, and the upper background shows the Roman amphitheatre at Verona; on the bench are the tools of a goldsmith rather than a printmaker. In 1565, he is recorded in a court action over a debt of 80 zloties owed by another Italian emigre artist, the sculptor Giammaria Mosca, known as " Padovano", which Caraglio claimed from the executors of yet another Italian, a royal doctor, whose tomb Padovano had completed. Caraglio married a Polish woman and acquired property, and died in Krakow, where he is buried in the

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Ca ...

church.

apparently did not know this, but probably knew that he was buying land near Parma in anticipation of a retirement that never arrived. He was also known as ''Cahalius'' or ''Jacobus Veronensis'' or ''Parmensis'', the latter presumably after his estate near

, and these were used to sign some plates. Caraglio has never been the subject of a

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monogra ...

Works

A small number of identifiable surviving works other than prints include signed intaglios in the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

in Paris (the ''

Annunciation to the Shepherds The annunciation to the shepherds is an episode in the Nativity of Jesus described in the Bible in Luke 2, in which angels tell a group of shepherds about the birth of Jesus. It is a common subject of Christian art and of Christmas carols. Bibl ...

'' in

rock crystal Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

) and the

in New York (Queen Bona), and an unsigned attributed piece in the Ambrosiana in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

(Bona in crystal), medals in

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

and elsewhere, and cameos in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

(illustrated) and elsewhere. He also produced

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

plaquette A plaquette (, ''small plaque'') is a small low relief sculpture in bronze or other materials. These were popular in the Italian Renaissance and later. They may be commemorative, but especially in the Renaissance and Mannerist periods were of ...

s in bronze. About 70 prints by Caraglio are known, from 1526 to 1551. They include: * Set of 15 ''Loves of the Gods'' ( Bartsch 9-23), 1527, 12 after

, 2 after Rosso. * Set of 20 ''Pagan Divinities in Niches'' (Bartsch 24–43) after Rosso, one dated 1526,Shearman, 67, 195 * Set of ''The Labours of Hercules'' ( Bartsch 44–49), after Rosso, including ''Hercules piercing with his Arrows the Centaur Nessus''; ''Hercules slaying Cacus'' * ''Mars and Venus'' after Rosso's drawing in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the '' Venus de Milo''. A central ...

, c. 1530 - now mostly thought not to be by Caraglio. *''A Battle with the Shield and Lance''; ''The Virgin kneeling, with the Infant and St. Ann''; and ''Holy Family'' after

. *''Diogenes'' (Bartsch 3); ''Alexander and Roxana''; Martyrdom of SS. Peter and Paul''; ''Portrait of Pietro Aretino''; and ''

Marriage of the Virgin The Marriage of the Virgin is the subject in Christian art depicting the marriage of the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The marriage is not mentioned in the canonical Gospels but is covered in several apocryphal sources and in later redactions, no ...

'' after

. *''The Virgin and Infant, under an Orange Tree'' (to his own design). *''The Annunciation'' and ''The Punishment of Tantalus''; after

. *''The Rape of Ganymede'' after

. *''Anatomical Figure holding skull''; ''Nymphs and Young Men in Garden''; and ''Rape of Sabines'' after Rosso Fiorentino. *''The Triumph of the Muses over Pierides'': *''The Death of Meleager'' and ''The Creation''; after

. *''Portrait of Aretino''.Landau, 285 File:Fury LACMA M.88.91.16.jpg, ''Fury'', 1524-25 File:Pluto Caraglio.jpg,

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...

with

Cerberus In Greek mythology, Cerberus (; grc-gre, Κέρβερος ''Kérberos'' ), often referred to as the hound of Hades, is a multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. He was the offspring of the ...

, from the "Gods in Niches" series, to drawings by Rosso Fiorentino, c. 1526 File:AN00056457 001 l ariadne in niche Caraglio.jpg,

Ariadne Ariadne (; grc-gre, Ἀριάδνη; la, Ariadne) was a Cretan princess in Greek mythology. She was mostly associated with mazes and labyrinths because of her involvement in the myths of the Minotaur and Theseus. She is best known for having ...

File:Caraglio Neptune.jpg,

Neptune Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the farthest known planet in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 time ...

File:Jacopo Caraglio - Alxender the Great and Roxane.jpg, Alexander the Great and Roxane, after

File:Caraglio Voyeurism.jpg, ''Mercury, Aglaurus and Herse'' from the ''Loves of the Gods'' (a poor copy or reproduction) File:Caraglio Cameo of Bona Sforza.jpg, Cameo of

File:Caraglio Cameo of Sigismund Augustus.jpg, Cameo of

Notes

References

*Bayer, Andrea, ed. ''Art and Love in Renaissance Italy'', 2008, #101 and see index, Metropolitan Museum of Art, , 9781588393005
Google books
* *Bury, Michael; ''The Print in Italy, 1550-1620'', 2001, British Museum Press, *Jacobson, Karen, ed (often wrongly cat. as George Baselitz), ''The French Renaissance in Prints'', 1994, Grunwald Center, UCLA, *Jestaz, Françoise, "Caraglio, Giovanni Jacopo."

Grove Art Online ''Grove Art Online'' is the online edition of ''The Dictionary of Art'', often referred to as the ''Grove Dictionary of Art'', and part of Oxford Art Online, an internet gateway to online art reference publications of Oxford University Press, ...

. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed March 1, 2013
subscriber link
*Kris, Ernst, "Notes on Renaissance Cameos and Intaglios", ''Metropolitan Museum Studies'', Vol. 3, No. 1 (Dec., 1930), pp. 1-13, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
JSTOR
*Landau, David, and Parshall, Peter. ''The Renaissance Print'', Yale, 1996, * Mayor, Hyatt A., ''Prints and People'', Metropolitan Museum of Art/Princeton, 1971, *Morka, Mieczysław, "The Beginnings of Medallic Art in Poland during the Times of Zygmunt I and Bona Sforza", ''Artibus et Historiae'', Vol. 29, No. 58 (2008), pp. 65-87
JSTOR
*Moulton, Ian Frederick, Review of ''Taking Positions: On the Erotic in Renaissance Culture'' by Bette Talvacchia, ''

Shakespeare Quarterly ''Shakespeare Quarterly'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1950 by the Shakespeare Association of America. It is now under the auspices of the Folger Shakespeare Library. Along with book and performance criticism, ''Shakespeare Q ...

'', Vol. 52, No. 4 (Winter, 2001), pp. 532-535, Folger Shakespeare Library in association with George Washington University
JSTOR
*Pon, Lisa, ''Raphael, Dürer, and Marcantonio Raimondi, Copying and the Italian Renaissance Print'', 2004, Yale UP, *Schulz, Anne M., Mosca, Giammaria, ''Giammaria Mosca Called Padovano: A Renaissance Sculptor in Italy and Poland'', Vol 1, 1998, Penn State Press, , 9780271044514
google books
* Shearman, John. ''Mannerism'', 1967, Pelican, London,

External links

45 prints online from the British Museum (also many copies)57 prints and copies from the Ashmolean Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caraglio, Giovanni Jacopo 1500s births 1565 deaths Artists from Verona Italian goldsmiths Engraved gem artists 16th-century Italian artists Italian engravers Italian medallists Renaissance engravers Mannerist artists 16th-century medallists