12. Cornelis Cort (ca. 1533-1578)
after Francesco Primaticcio (1504-1570)

The Assembly of the Gods on Olympus

(click on image to print)
Cort, The Assembly of the Gods

The Assembly of the Gods on Olympus

Engraving, ca. 1565, Bartsch 52, Bierens de Haan 184 ii/ii, Hollstein 184 ii/ii, New Hollstein 187 ii/ii, 455 mm. diameter. Very good impression of this large and impressive plate on thick laid paper with square margins outside the circular plate mark; central vertical crease flattened and reinforced, several printer's creases generally not obtrusive, two small edge tears repaired. The print bears the name Tomaso Vincidor of Bologna as inventor, but it is actually after a drawing by Primaticcio (once owned by Mariette, now in the Louvre), which is not round but square; the adaptation to a circular format is nicely accomplished. There is also an associated painting in the Galerie d'Ulisse in Fontainbleau. The print, despite the artists’ signatures now being upside-down at the top, is mounted in the same vertical direction as the original drawing, not only for art-historical reasons, but because the composition is most effective that way, but it can be viewed with profit from any angle. Truly, a marvelous composition.