Enea Vico (Parma 1523 - Ferrara 1567)

Enea Vico (Parma 1523 - Ferrara 1567) Grotesque ornaments with Romulus, Remus, and the Capitoline Wolf, 1541 Burin Measurements: 256 x 118 Antiquarian, designer, numismatist, and engraver, after initial training in his hometown, the artist moved to Rome. Here, he worked for the printer Salamanca and for Tommaso Barlacchi, engraving many plates, including a series of Grotesques published in 1542. He primarily trained by studying the engravings of Marcantonio Raimondi and his school (the counterproof copy of Raimondi's Lucretia, engraved for Barlacchi, dates from 1541). After a stay in Florence, he moved to Venice and finally to Ferrara at the court of Alfonso II. Today, we know of about five hundred burin engravings executed by Vico: portraits, series of ancient vases, gems and cameos, engravings after works by Raphael, Michelangelo, Salviati, etc. Subject of elegant invention in the architectural composition and of classical Roman taste in the choice of subjects: the plow, fortune, and the she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus. The sheet belongs to a group of similar subjects but of different formats. At the bottom, below the subject, a tablet with the author's monogram and the publisher's address: tom. barl. exc. 1541. Copy in I/II state. Excellent impression, with strong inking. Excellent condition. Trimmed to the copperplate mark. On the back, the signature of the Swedish collector Ture Lundh (Lught 6064), whose collection focused on the 16th century and was sold at Christie's in 1985, and two stamps that distinguish the duplicates of the British Museum (Lught 302 and 305). Watermark: Arrow inscribed in a circle similar to Briquet n. 761. Bibliography: Bartsch, XV, n.490; TIB 490 (367)