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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Mainly studies from the antique ca. 1535 drawing on vellum British Museum |
"The figure of the shepherd on the upper tier [at far left] is probably Aspertini's invention, whereas the other drawings on both pages seem all to be recordings of statues originally in the Sassi collection in Rome and subsequently in the Farnese collection [Maarten van Heemskerck made a surviving drawing of the Sassi court with its sculptures]. Left-hand page – the middle figure derives from the Hermes Farnese, today in the British Museum. The female statue is of a Venus Genetrix type with a Roman portrait head. The Venus is today in the Museo Nazionale in Naples. At the time of Heemskerck's drawing, the statue was missing the left forearm and the entire right arm, and that explains Aspertini's sketch. The smaller group with the chariot on the lower tier might loosely derive from sarcophagi representing myths like the Rape of Proserpina, or Endymion, which could have been part of the Sassi collection, or possibly from images represented on cameos or gems. Right-hand page – The figure of the seated Apollo derives from the colossal porphyry statue now in Naples, and, as it was considered female in the Renaissance, Aspertini also interprets it as such. The statue has undergone numerous restorations, but at the time of Heemskerck's drawing it was missing both arms. Aspertini seems to attempt a 'restoration' awkwardly adding the left forearm pointing upwards and with the fingers in the act of playing the strings [of a musical instrument]. The second is an Apollo Chitharoedus today in Naples. The torso in the lower tier closely resembles the Praxitelean Apollo Sauroctonos type also in Naples. The small figure on the globe has not been identified, but like the ones on the lower tier of the left-hand page could derive from either a relief or a cameo."
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Mainly studies from the antique ca. 1535 drawing on vellum British Museum |
"Upper tier – Seated figure and five deeds of Hercules. Lower tier – Dead Niobid and nude figure of an old man, reclining. Bober believes that for the deeds of Hercules represented on this opening, although similar in form with those on the famous Savelli sarcophagus in the Museo Torlonia, the correspondence as well as the sequence of the groups is closer to the front of a sarcophagus in the Villa Borghese. Aspertini's interest in Hercules is represented throughout his career, as it can be seen in this and more of his drawings. Aspertini painted a cycle of Hercules' Labours in the castle of Count Francesco Isolani in Minerbio near Bologna. Bober also believes that for the seated male figure, in conjunction with Hercules' Labours, Aspertini could have based himself on a similar figure on the lost cover of the above-mentioned sarcophagus in Villa Borghese. It could represent Hercules resting after his deeds, as it seems to be sitting on the skin of a stag. The Dead Niobid derives from a sculpture once in the Maffei collection in Rome and today in Munich. . . . For the reclining old man Bober believes it to be either an original sketch or a derivation from a figure on the lost cover of the Borghese sarcophagus, like the seated figure on the left-hand page."
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Mainly studies from the antique ca. 1535 drawing on vellum British Museum |
"Bober suggests that the six figures on the upper tier of the left-hand page derive from an unidentified sarcophagus representing Bacchus and Ariadne, and that the ones on the right-hand represent, from left to right, Hercules and the Hydra, Hercules and the Erymanthean Boar and Hercules with the Nemean Lion, after a sarcophagus now in the Vatican. . . . The Muses on the lower tier are, according to Bober, from an unidentified model, but must refer to that class of Muse sarcophagus that represents Thalia wearing a spotted skin leotard. [Seated figure at center among the Muses is Minerva.]"
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Amazonomachy ca. 1535 drawing on vellum British Museum |
"Amazonomachy frieze, battle between Greeks and the legendary female warriors the Amazons. On left of the right-hand page the Greek leader Achilles wrestles with the Amazon queen Penthesilea. For Bober this opening is problematic in so far as the antique source is concerned, as the composition bears very few points of resemblance to sarcophagi of the type. The group to the left of Achilles – an Amazon stepping over a corpse to defend herself against a charging Greek horseman – is closely paralleled on the sarcophagus recorded by Aspertini in SS. Cosma e Damiano, yet the motive does not appear on preserved Penthesilea reliefs. For the extreme right portion of the scene a possible prototype can be found in a fragment of a Penthesilea sarcophagus re-used in the 17th century pasticcio of the Palazzo Lancellotti."
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Deeds of Hercules ca. 1535 drawing on vellum British Museum |
"Deeds of Hercules. Left-hand page – Hercules battling Hydra, a many-headed snake; Hercules embracing a woman (Omphale?); Hercules lifting Antaeus off the ground; Hercules carrying two columns on his shoulders; nude male figure running forward; Hercules with his club in one hand fighting Antaeus (?). Right-hand page – Hercules and the Cretan Bull; Hercules and the Nemean Lion; two seated figures of Hercules; and Hercules strangling the Nemean Lion. As observed by Bober, some of the figures are loosely inspired by antiquity: the source for Hercules attacking the Hydra is likely to have been the second figure from the left of a lost sarcophagus recorded in the Codex Pighianus; the nude figure running forward can be compared to the first figure on the left of the same sarcophagus; the pose of the hero in Hercules attacking Antaeus (?) with a club resembles that in the Hydra episode on the Museo Torlonia sarcophagus which stood in the Renaissance at the Palazzo Savelli in Rome. The composition for Hercules and the Cretan Bull occurs in both the Savelli sarcophagus and that in the Villa Borghese; in Hercules and the Nemean Lion Aspertini is re-adapting the fragmentary episode of the Stymphalian Birds represented on a Vatican sarcophagus; the two seated figures of Hercules are probably inspired by details of an unidentified sarcophagus cover; Hercules strangling the Nemean Lion is either after the Savelli sarcophagus or after the example in Villa Borghese."
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Bacchus in India ca. 1535 drawing on vellum British Museum |
"Frieze of Bacchus in India, the god mounted on an elephant, with satyrs and human followers. This opening is freely based on a sarcophagus today at Woburn Abbey. As Bober observes, the woman on the far left is holding her drapery rather than holding a trophy standard, the small figures of Pan are enlarged, and Hercules, on the right-hand page, is drawn as a woman."
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Left - Mercury seeking Proserpina's return from the Underworld Right - Judgment of Paris (partial) ca. 1535 drawing on vellum British Museum |
"Faletti believes this to be the first reproduction of a sarcophagus representing Mercury with Proserpina, Pluto and Hecate (?) in the Underworld, found in Rome at the time of Leo X (1513-21), and given to Federico II Gonzaga in Mantua by Adrian VI in 1524. Aspertini might have seen the sarcophagus when it was still in Rome and recorded it then, although Bober believes that the accuracy of his drawing and the intelligent reconstruction of damaged details would indicate that this is not a copy after a previous drawing. . . . The image does continue on the right-hand page, but with a different subject, namely part of the Judgment of Paris; as Bober observes, because of lack of space Aspertini is forced to move the Nymphs closer to Paris and one is made to lean on his shoulder. The figure of Zeus (?) holding the apple is the artist's addition and this is interesting, as Aspertini is here reinterpreting the scene in order to make it independent from its continuation (the apple is normally handed over to Aphrodite from Paris). In fact, the subject is based on the far left side of a sarcophagus in Villa Medici, and Aspertini completes the image on another opening [directly below]."
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Left - Judgment of Paris (partial) Right - Gods seated on Olympus ca. 1535 drawing on vellum British Museum |
"This is after the sarcophagus in Villa Medici. . . . According to Bober, the sarcophagus came to the Villa Medici from the della Valle Capranica collection, but it is not certain whether it belonged to della Valle in Aspertini's day."
The seven openings below all derive from reliefs on Trajan's Column, with military scenes of Roman campaigns against the Dacians. Scholars tend to doubt that Aspertini observed the column-reliefs directly, which would probably have required having himself suspended in a basket, as some artists are known to have done. It is thought more likely that he relied on pre-existing drawings and engravings created by others.
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Above - Roman sacrifice on Dacian coast Below - Roman bridge of boats ca. 1535 drawing on vellum British Museum |
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Above - Emperor Trajan being dressed in armour Below - Roman soldiers constructing a camp ca. 1535 drawing on vellum British Museum |
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Roman soldiers constructing a camp ca. 1535 drawing on vellum British Museum |
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Siege of barbarian camp by Roman soldiers scaling ladders ca. 1535 drawing on vellum British Museum |
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Above - Cavalry battle of nude warriors Below - Legionaries entering Dacian village ca. 1535 drawing on vellum British Museum |
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Above - Nude soldiers fighting Below - Romans and Dacians fighting ca. 1535 drawing on vellum British Museum |
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Dacians drowning in the Danube ca. 1535 drawing on vellum British Museum |