144 - CESARE FANTETTI (c. 1660–c. 1740), after NICOLAS POUSSIN (1594–1665)

CESARE FANTETTI (c. 1660–c. 1740), after NICOLAS POUSSIN (1594–1665) Phaeton Asking Apollo to Let Him Drive the Sun Chariot Etching and burin engraving, late 16th–early 18th century. Inscribed on the plate at the bottom left: “Ni]colaus Pussinus Pinxit” and at the bottom right: “Cezare Fantetti Sculp.” Based on Poussin’s painting housed at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. Signs of wear and foxing. Dimensions: 32 × 42 cm The composition gives no hint of the tragic downfall that awaits the presumptuous youth. Trained in Rome, the Florentine Cesare Fantetti is best known for his collaboration, alongside Pietro Aquila, on the engraving of Raphael’s Loggias in the Vatican. Here he offers a meticulous interpretation of one of the great mythological compositions from Poussin’s early Roman period.