Nov 02, 2021 - Sale 2585

Sale 2585 - Lot 49

Price Realized: $ 2,125
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
DIANA SCULTORI
Boy Removing a Thorn from His Foot (the Spinario).

Engraving, 1581. 305x208 mm; 12 1/4x8 1/4 inches, wide margins. First state (of 4). Shield with a 6-pointed star and the letter M (Woodward 328, which he dates to circa 1571). A very good, well-inked impression with strong contrasts.

Based on an antique bronze sculpture now in the Capitoline Museum, Rome.

Scultori (15547-1612) was one of four children of the sculptor and engraver Giovanni Battista Ghisi (1503-1575) and the sister of engraver Adamo Scultori (1530-1585). She learned the art of engraving from her father and also studied with the artist Giulio Romano (circa 1499-1546). Scultori received her first public recognition as an engraver in Giorgio Vasari's second edition of his Vites published in 1568. In 1565 she met her first husband, an architect, and the pair moved to Rome by 1575. Once in Rome, Scultori used her knowledge of business within the art world to advance both her and her husband's career. On June 5, 1575, Scultori received a Papal Privilege to make and market her own work, which she used to her advantage. In 1578 she gave birth to her son Giovanni Battista Capriani. The last known engraving by Scultori dates 1588. Bartsch 42; Bellini 50.