This complete and unrecorded set of allegorical etchings

Acquired From: Leen Helmink

Colouring: Uncoloured

Condition: Very Good

Confirmed: No

Dealers ID No.: 19073

Description: This complete and unrecorded set of allegorical etchings of The Four Seasons is a reversed copy after Antonio Tempestas 1592 Roman series, originally published by Giovanni Orlandi. Etched and issued in Antwerp by Pieter de Jode I between 1613 and 1618, the prints reflect the cross-cultural influence between Italian design and Flemish printmaking in the early seventeenth century.nEach plate is numbered in the lower-left corner and inscribed in the lower right with Antonio Tempesti Flor. inventor. Petrus de Iode excu., confirming Tempesta as the original inventor and de Jode as publisher and etcher.nEach print allegorises a season through classical imagery. ''Spring ''appears as a young woman holding flowers, riding a chariot drawn by calves and lambssymbols of renewal and birth. ''Summer ''is represented by a figure often identified as Demeter, goddess of agriculture, bearing wheat and riding a chariot pulled by storks and doves, alluding to fertility, abundance, and harmony. ''Autumn ''celebrates the triumph of Bacchus (Dionysus), god of wine and revelry, shown on a chariot drawn by goats and dovesanimals long associated with fertility and festivity. ''Winter ''is depicted as an elderly man warming his hands over a brazier on a chariot drawn by owls and peacocks, invoking themes of wisdom, reflection, and inwardness.nThe iconography of the Four Seasons was a popular motif in Renaissance graphic art and frequently appeared on world maps, including Joan Blaeus Atlas Maior'' ''(1662), where it served to express cosmological balance and the human desire to impose order on nature.nThough the original Tempesta series is catalogued as Bartsch 804807, no references have been found to this mirrored set by de Jode. It stands as a compelling example of Flemish engagement with Italian print design in the early seventeenth century.

Engraver: Jode I, Pieter de (1573-1634)

First published: Rome: Giovanni Orlandi, 1592

Image Size (cm): 21.3×14.7

Mapmaker: Jode I, Pieter de (1573-1634) after Antonio Tempesta

Notes: Purchase details

Primary Category: Prints & Related Material

Rarity: R2 Very rare – one or two copies appear on the market

References: Sebastian Buffa, ed., The Illustrated Bartsch, vol. 36 Formerly volume 17 (part 3): Antonia Tempesta: Italian masters of the sixteenth century (New York: Abaris Books, 1983), 152.804.

Technique: Copper Etching

This state: Antwerp: Pieter de Jode I, 1613-1618

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