History & Battles
History & Battles
Four Studies of Elephant
c.1853-76Albumen print | RCIN 852261
A photograph of a drawing attributed to Giulio Romano currently in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (inv. no.WA1846.226).
The four elephants recur (in the same direction) in a composition engraved by Cornelis Cort dated 1567, based upon an invention by Giulio Romano related to the set of tapestries illustrating the history of Scipio Africanus commissioned from him by Francis I between 1531 and 1535. A second state impression of the engraving can be found at RCIN 852263. According to Parker (1956), these elephant drawings are almost certainly copies from (and not studies for) the composition, which is recorded in a handful of sheets now in the Louvre (inv. nos.3717 and 3718) and in the Albertina, Vienna (inv. SR 405). Another was formerly in the Lord Leigh Collection (photograph at RCIN 852260) and a further one was once in the Gatteaux Collection in Paris but was destroyed in 1871 (photograph at RCIN 852258).
They same elephants also appear (in reverse) in an etching attributed to Battista Franco, for a first state impression of which see RCIN 852262.
The four elephants recur (in the same direction) in a composition engraved by Cornelis Cort dated 1567, based upon an invention by Giulio Romano related to the set of tapestries illustrating the history of Scipio Africanus commissioned from him by Francis I between 1531 and 1535. A second state impression of the engraving can be found at RCIN 852263. According to Parker (1956), these elephant drawings are almost certainly copies from (and not studies for) the composition, which is recorded in a handful of sheets now in the Louvre (inv. nos.3717 and 3718) and in the Albertina, Vienna (inv. SR 405). Another was formerly in the Lord Leigh Collection (photograph at RCIN 852260) and a further one was once in the Gatteaux Collection in Paris but was destroyed in 1871 (photograph at RCIN 852258).
They same elephants also appear (in reverse) in an etching attributed to Battista Franco, for a first state impression of which see RCIN 852262.
Acquired for the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (c.1853-76)
