Francesco Villamena
(Assisi 1564 - Rome 1624)
The Massacre of the Innocents.
Burin
Measurements: mm 276 x 428
Italian painter, draughtsman and engraver. He moved to Rome in 1590 where he became a pupil of Cornelis Cort, and later worked with Agostino Carracci. He was a skilled burin engraver; he produced both original engravings and translations of works by Raphael, Caliari, Barocci, Muziano, Giulio Romano and others, characterized by a clean, vigorous, neat but often rather crude sign. In addition to historical and religious subjects, he made portraits, including a series of genre figures (Rome, Gab. N. Stampe). In 1594 he made a series of engravings illustrating scenes from the Life of Saint Francis. His work includes approximately one thousand plates.
This print reproduces, in the same direction, the famous version engraved by Marcantonio Raimondi in 1511-1512 also reproducing the monogram. The engraving was an immediate success, so much so that Raimondi himself engraved a second version in 1513-15 to obviate the strong market demand; copies by Agostino Veneziano, Ugo da Carpi, Giovanni Battista de Cavalieri and Michele Lucchesi are also known. The composition derives, for the animated part only, from a drawing by Raphael; the landscape was inserted by Raimondi, deriving it from a drawing by Giuliano da Sangallo. Of Raphael's invention there remain some more or less complete versions: two drawings of the main figures are kept in London, British Museum, one at Windsor Castle, two at the Albertina in Vienna and one in Budapest. The drama and pathos in the composition are obtained through an intense chiaroscuro, a silver-grey atmosphere that envelops the characters. The viewer is attracted by the tumult, the ordered chaos and the plasticity of the bodies. Everything is described in great detail: children lying on the ground, mothers in agonizing screams, soldiers with classical bodies wielding their swords. In the background a view of the Fabricio Bridge, or Quattro Capi, in Rome, the left branch of the Tiber, built in 62 BC, which is still in operation and connects the Tiber Island with the Ghetto area. On the pedestal of the bridge to the left "RAPHA / URBI / INVEN/ MAF".
Excellent impression on laid paper with "hunting horn" watermark (similar to: Briquet no. 7834, Rome, 1470 and Briquet 7855, on a drawing by Raphael now at the Uffizi INV. 515E). Minimal traces of handling along the upper margin.
Excellent condition. Trimmed to the copperplate mark. Unique State.
Bibliography: Bartsch, XIV,20.; Passavant, VI, p.12, n.9; Massari Raphael Invenit, p. 172, VI, 7