5149 - Meldolla, Andrea

Meldolla, Andrea Vénus sortant du bain (Venus After Her Bath). Drypoint etching after Parmigianino. 15.2 x 10.9 cm. 7.2 x 11.9 cm. Vol. XVI, pp. 67, 75. Like his role model and contemporary Parmigianino, Meldolla deserves credit for having decisively advanced the art of etching in the 16th century and for having explored the experimental and creative possibilities of this medium in a unique way. As a printmaker, Schiavone was in all likelihood self-taught. His early etchings were technically immature imitations of Parmigianino. After only a short time, however, he adopted an unconventional stylistic language characterized by subtle tonal and painterly gradations, thus developing into a counterpart to the atmospheric Venetian painting of his time. Several drawings by Parmigianino with a very similar composition have survived, including works in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rennes (Inv. DMF 2004.1.67) and in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest (Inv. 1890). This graceful etching is among Meldolla’s most evocative works. The artist renders the intimate scene with subtle humor. Venus has snatched Cupid’s bow and arrow, and the child is stamping his foot in anger. We have been able to identify only one other print of this extraordinarily rare sheet, which entered the collection of the British Museum in London as early as 1753 as part of the famous collection of Sir Hans Sloane (Inv. W, 2.41). Compared to the London print, our copy is partially overlaid with wash in gray ink, which may be the artist’s own hand and lends the print additional visual appeal. A copy made from this print by an anonymous 16th-century Italian artist is housed at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (Inv. No. RP-P-H-H-905). An excellent, nuanced, and richly toned print with a fine knurled edge around the plate margin. Minimal signs of age; otherwise, an exquisite, untreated copy. - 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.