Mythology & Putti
MONOGRAMMIST NDB (C. 1520-50)
Cupids playing with Apples
c.1520-1550Chiaroscuro woodcut, from three blocks, printed in brown | 27.8 x 40.9 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 851879
A chiaroscuro woodcut after a design traditionally attributed to Raphael. Signed with printmaker's monogram at lower right (partially legible): NDB. Annotated in brown ink at lower centre: R.
The composition is known also from an anonymous engraving of the School of Fontainebleau (Bartsch XVI, p.403, no.70) and several drawings, including one in the Staatliche Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf (inv. no.D.208; photograph at RCIN 851877) and another in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (inv. no.3887; photograph at RCIN 851878). Scholars have pointed out connections between this composition and the so-called 'Giuochi di putti', a set of tapestries designed by Giovanni da Udine/Tommaso Vincidor and woven in Flanders for Leo X. Suggestions that this composition may be indebted to Raphael himself have also been made. For further discussion, see Bibliographic References.
Another chiaroscuro woodcut by the Monogrammist NDB of a related composition and dated 1544 at RCIN 851921.
The composition is known also from an anonymous engraving of the School of Fontainebleau (Bartsch XVI, p.403, no.70) and several drawings, including one in the Staatliche Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf (inv. no.D.208; photograph at RCIN 851877) and another in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (inv. no.3887; photograph at RCIN 851878). Scholars have pointed out connections between this composition and the so-called 'Giuochi di putti', a set of tapestries designed by Giovanni da Udine/Tommaso Vincidor and woven in Flanders for Leo X. Suggestions that this composition may be indebted to Raphael himself have also been made. For further discussion, see Bibliographic References.
Another chiaroscuro woodcut by the Monogrammist NDB of a related composition and dated 1544 at RCIN 851921.
Creator(s)
Monogrammist NDB (c. 1520-50) (wood cutter)
After a work attributed to Raphael (Urbino 1483-Rome 1520) (designer)
R
p.139 Amorini A III. 3 / PF 18 A III [lower left] / 112_108_4 [lower centre]
VIII / 4
27.8 x 40.9 cm (sheet of paper)
- Added to the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (c.1853-76)
Subject(s)
- Putti
- Children
Bibliographic reference(s)
pp.334-5; under no.488 (Cordellier/Py 1992 : Raphael : son atelier, ses copistes, 1992 / par Dominique Cordellier et Bernadette Py, Paris (Inventaire general des dessins Italiens ; V / sous la direction de Francoise Viatte))
