Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Engraved Renaissance busts at the Ashmolean Museum

Giovanni Guerra
Fashion head, Rome
ca. 1589
engraving
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Giovanni Guerra
Fashion head, Rome
ca. 1589
engraving
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Giovanni Guerra
Fashion head, Rome
ca. 1589
engraving
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Giovanni Guerra
Fashion head, Rome
ca. 1589
engraving
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

The engraved busts above are from a set intended to carry current hair and adornment styles to fashion outposts far from the courtly sophistication of the Italian peninsula during the 16th century. Identities and moral qualities are also supplied for each figure, to lend dignity. More of these portrait-prints, created for a variety of purposes, are ranged below. Most were donated to the Ashmolean Museum early in the 19th century by scholarly travelers and collectors.

Antonio Caranzano
Grandezza Mahumetana
1583
engraving
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Martino Rota
Portrait bust of Ottaviano Strada
ca. 1574-83
engraving
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Enea Vico
Julius Caesar
ca. 1549
engraving
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Enea Vico
Maria, Queen of Aragon
16th century
engraving
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Giulio Bonasone
Latona
ca. 1550-70
engraving
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Giulio Bonasone
Posthumous portrait-bust of Raphael
1530s
engraving
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Enea Vico
Michelangelo at age 71
1545
engraving
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Giulio Bonasone
Michelangelo
1546
engraving
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Giorgio Ghisi
Michelangelo
ca. 1564
engraving
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Antonio Tempesta
Angelica & Medoro as Grotesques
ca. 1580-1630
etching
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford