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| Francesco Salviati Border Ornamentation - Ignudi supporting Medallion ca. 1537 drawing for fresco Royal Collection, Windsor |
Francesco Salviati (1510-1563) – Painter. Francesco de' Rossi, called Francesco Salviati. Most of his career in Rome after 1531, though with periods in Florence and north Italy 1539-48 and in France 1554-55. Sometimes called Cecchino Salviati – the name Salviati comes from that of his patron Cardinal Giovanni Salviati who took him into his service in 1531 after his arrival in Rome. Peripatetic throughout his career, Salviati was first a pupil in Florence of Andrea del Sarto, but after a period of less than two years went to Rome, where he was much influenced by the Roman works of Michelangelo and Raphael, as well as by the works of Perino del Vaga (1501-1547) and Parmigianino (1503-1540); his earliest commission, the 'Visitation' of 1537 in the Oratory of S. Giovanni Decollato in Rome, shows how strong were these Roman influences upon him. In 1539 he was back in Florence where he assisted with the decorations erected for the marriage of Cosimo I de' Medici to Eleonora of Toledo. In 1539-40 he was in Venice in the service of the Grimani family. He returned to Rome in 1541, where he became painter to Pierluigi Farnese, but he eventually left his service and returned to Florence in 1543. In that same year he was commissioned by Cosimo I to decorate the Sala dell'Udienza in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, the masterpiece of his mature period, establishing thereby his reputation as one of the foremost decorators of his time. He was back in Rome in 1548 where, from 1552-54 he decorated the Palazzo Sacchetti, another of his finest works. While in Rome, he also painted in the Palazzo Farnese and in the Palazzo della Cancelleria. Although he had been invited to France on several occasions, he did not actually go there until 1554-55 and when he arrived he promptly fell out with a fellow Italian painter, Francesco Primaticcio (1504-1570) who was already established at the French court. On his return to Rome in 1555 he worked again in the Palazzo Farnese. Salviati is without a doubt one of the great geniuses of High Mannerism. His flair for improvising decoration of great complexity was much admired in his own day. The same brilliance is seen in his drawings, in the wonderful ease of their execution – in many instances in spite of the intricacy of the subject.
– biographical notes from the British Museum
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| Francesco Salviati Head of bearded old man 1540s drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| attributed to Francesco Salviati Angel of the Lord descending toward pagan sacrifice before 1563 drawing Royal Collection, Windsor |
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| Francesco Salviati Caryatid before 1563 drawing Royal Collection, Windsor |
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| Francesco Salviati Cavalry Battle before 1563 drawing Royal Collection, Windsor |
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| Francesco Salviati Holy Family before 1563 drawing Royal Collection, Windsor |
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| Francesco Salviati King of the Lombards submitting to the Pope, with wrestlers in the foreground before 1563 drawing Royal Collection, Windsor |
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| Girolamo di Benvenuto Cimmerian Sibyl before 1524 drawing British Museum |
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| Girolamo di Benvenuto Hellespontine Sibyl before 1524 drawing British Museum |
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| Girolamo di Benvenuto Phrygian Sibyl before 1524 drawing British Museum |
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| Girolamo di Benvenuto Tiburtine Sibyl before 1524 drawing British Museum |
Above, four of ten sibyls designed and drawn by Sienese painter and draughtsman Girolamo di Benvenuto (1470-1524). According to curators at the British Museum, these were based on "the same ten that occur on the marble floor of Siena Cathedral," executed in 1482-83 after designs by Benvenuto di Giovanni, the father and teacher of Girolamo. "In choosing attributes for the sibyls, Girolamo, somewhat unexpectedly, does not consistently follow the Siena series." The lily, for example, upheld by the Tiburtine Sibyl (directly above) does not appear on the Siena pavement, nor in the engraved sets of sibyls then current. Posterity seems to have decided that the father was a more accomplished and significant artist than the son, but perhaps the son would not have agreed.
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| Hendrik Goltzius after Polidoro da Lanciano Jupiter in niche ca. 1590-91 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Hendrik Goltzius after Polidoro da Lanciano Neptune in niche ca. 1590-91 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Hendrik Goltzius after Polidoro da Lanciano Saturn in niche ca. 1590-91 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Hendrik Goltzius after Polidoro da Lanciano Vulcan in niche ca. 1590-91 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
Polidoro da Lanciano (or Polidoro Lanzani, 1515-1565) was a relatively obscure Venetian painter who worked primarily as an assistant to Titian (1488-1576). The copy-drawings of Polidoro's pagan gods in niches are by the prolific German/Dutch artist Hendrik Goltzius (1558-1617), who added them to one of his many series of prints derived from Italian works.