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GAMBA - EARLY-SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ENGRAVING
Paoli, Antonio de (fl. 1589-1630)
"Italia".
Rome, early seventeenth century. Total size in mat: 14" h x 17" w. In good condition on the whole and attractive. Defects and repairs largely unobtrusive. Trimmed within the plate edge and laid down on larger sheet. No caption present (the title Italia remains at top but is now covered by mat). Small repaired hole at top of gamba's lower bout; additional small hole at bottom of Venus' dress. A few professionally repaired tears at top (mostly in tree leaves, but one extending from upper right corner to Apollo's shoulder). Light abrasion at upper right and few minor stains at bottom.This engraving depicts Apollo and Venus at the fore of a busy Italian landscape. Apollo holds a viola da gamba in his left hand and to Venus' right a cornet sits atop a pile of books; behind her a group of three musicians, one of whom plays a lute, serenade a woman at a window.
GPH-16040$375The engraving was published by the Roman printer Antonio de Paoli in the early seventeenth century. It is a reverse image of Jan Sadeler's engraving of c. 1594 after Hans von Aachen's Italie, one of four allegorical scenes von Aachen drew based on four European countries in the late 1580s.
