5139 - Lafreri, Antonio

Lafreri, Antonio The Archers. Copperplate engraving after Michelangelo. 24 x 35.3 cm. Nagler, *Die Monogrammisten* IV, 2322, 17 I (of II), Alberti (*La fortuna di Michelangelo nelle stampe del cinquecento*, Milan 2015) 245 II (of V), Rubach 196 II (of VI). Marked with a circle (indistinct). The copperplate engraving published by Lafreri reproduces a red chalk drawing by Michelangelo that is now in the Royal Collection in London (Inv. RCIN 912778). It is the only engraving made after the drawing in the 16th century and presumably served as a model for the fresco in the Casino Olgiati, created in 1544–45. Alessia Alberti rejected earlier authors’ attribution to Nicolas Beatrizet and identifies the sheet as the work of an anonymous Roman artist active in the 1540s, whose style bears similarities to that of Enea Vico. Preceded by the addresses of Paulo Gratiano and Petri de Nobilibus. An excellent, precise early print with a fine border around the illustration. Slightly yellowed and slightly stained; a vertical tear in the right half of the sheet running through the figure in the foreground and the one behind it; a tear in the margin below the same area, as well as at the top extending to the forearm of the archer drawing his bow; a wormhole next to the face of the herm, with a fragment of a copperplate engraving visible beneath it, minor missing areas, for example, on the thigh of the figure floating on the right and next to the buttocks of the sleeping Cupid, mounted in the past, other minor defects and signs of age, otherwise in good condition. Rare. Accompanied by Master B’s set of copperplate engravings: “The Sacrifice of Priapus” (B. 27), “The Triumph of Scipio” (B. 74), and “Two Gladiators” (B. 77), as well as an anonymous copperplate engraving after Raphael, “The Flood.” - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog. - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog.