Details
GIUSEPPE SCOLARI (ACTIVE 1550-1600)
Saint Jerome
woodcut, circa 1600, on laid paper, without watermark, a good impression of this uncommon print, second, final state
Sheet 524 x 372 mm.
Provenance
Unidentified, initials AMK. H.in brown ink verso (not in Lugt).
Literature
Passavant VI.234.57
Peter Dreyer, Tizian und sein Kreis, Berlin, 1971, p. 61, nr. 47 (another impression illustrated).
David Rosand & Michelangelo Muraro, Titian and the Venetian Woodcut, Washington, 1976, pp. 302-303, nr. 97B (another impression illustrated).
Jane Martineau & Charles Hope (eds.), The Genius of Venice 1500-1600, London, 1983, pp.351-52, P60 (another impression illustrated).
Special notice
Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.
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Lot Essay

This print is a fine example of Scolari's very distinct style of working on the woodblock with the burin to carve long, sweeping parallel lines of different density into the woodblock to create a rich and varied tonality, a technique more akin to wood engraving.
His Saint Jerome also attests to another aspect of Scolari's inventiveness: his radical reworking of the woodblock between the first and second states. He transformed the composition in several areas by cutting out large parts of the already chiselled block and inserting plugs into the gaps, which could then be newly carved. In this fashion, he altered the position of the Saint's leg and reworked the drapery in the present second state of the print. As a result, the figure of the Saint is more dynamic, seemingly stepping forward into space, whilst the drapery emphasises the shape of the body underneath.
His unusual cutting method and these changes to the block for compositional purposes strongly suggest that Scolari was not only the designer of this print, but that he also cut the block himself - a laborious process that was usually done by craftsmen rather than the artist.

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