Apr 28, 2022 - Sale 2602

Sale 2602 - Lot 55

Price Realized: $ 2,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
ANTONIO DA TRENTO (AFTER PARMIGIANINO)
Man Seated Viewed from behind (Narcissus at the Well).

Chiaroscuro woodcut printed in brown and black, circa 1525. 285x180 mm; 11 1/4x7 inches. Trimmed on the outside or on the black border line. A very good, richly-inked impression of this very scarce, early woodcut.

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, which has in the collection a similar impression of this woodcut, "Upon returning to Bologna after the Sack of Rome in 1527, Parmigianino (1503-1540) started working with the printmaker Antonio da Trento (1520-1550), who, according to the 16th century artist and biographer Giorgio Vasari, also lived with the artist. Their collaboration led to highly skilled compositions, including Narcissus from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Two blocks inked with different hues of brown provide the middle tones, the outlines from the keyblock are printed in black, and the exposed white of the paper creates the highlights. Though the relationship between Parmigianino and Antonio da Trento was initially productive, it soon ended when, in Vasari's telling, the printmaker left the artist's home one morning having stolen numerous prints and drawings. Bartsch 13.