New Considerations on a Set of Portrait Drawings of the Orsini Family by Giovanni Campagna

This essay considers for the first time side by side an intriguing group of 16 drawings representing illustrious Orsini men and an early 17th-century manuscript from the Archivio Capitolino in Rome, which contains an unpublished history of the powerful Orsini family. The round shape of these drawing...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Getty research journal 2013-01, Vol.5 (5), p.15-28
Main Author: Furlotti, Barbara
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archbishops
Archives
Art museums
Engraving
Family papers
Frontispieces
Narrative modes
Portraits
Printing
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Summary:This essay considers for the first time side by side an intriguing group of 16 drawings representing illustrious Orsini men and an early 17th-century manuscript from the Archivio Capitolino in Rome, which contains an unpublished history of the powerful Orsini family. The round shape of these drawings, which were once in Cassiano dal Pozzo's famous Paper Museum, has suggested to scholars that they might be models for (or copies from) maiolica dishes or plaquettes. As for their authorship, they have been attributed to Bernardino Capitelli, a Sienese painter and printmaker who worked for Cassiano. However, careful iconographic comparison with the apparatus of engravings included in the manuscript of the Archivio Capitolino allows us to argue that the drawings of the Orsini men were in fact intended as models for a new set of portraits to be added to the history of the family. We also argue that their author was a fascinating although little-known artist, possibly from northern Europe, who was competent in paleography and epigraphy, had a distinct interest in antiquarianism, and might have been in the service of Cassiano dal Pozzo.
ISSN:1944-8740
2329-1249
DOI:10.1086/grj.5.41825344