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| attributed to Antonio Tempesta Battle Scene in front of a Burning Town before 1630 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Antonio Tempesta Battle Scene before 1630 oil on canvas Musée Fesch, Ajaccio, Corsica |
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| Antonio Tempesta Battle of Horsemen ca. 1610-15 drawing British Museum |
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| Antonio Tempesta Return from the Hunt 1598 etching Castello del Buonconsiglio, Trento |
"Active as a painter and frescante, as well as a draughtsman and printmaker, Antonio Tempesta was probably trained in the studio of Jan Stradanus in Florence. Like Stradanus, he may have worked under the supervision of Giorgio Vasari on the decoration of the Palazzo Vecchio. He was also a pupil of Santi di Tito, and is listed as a member of the Accademia del Disegno in Florence in December 1576. Not long afterwards, however, he settled in Rome, where he worked for the remainder of his career. Tempesta was employed by Pope Gregory XIII on the fresco decoration of several rooms in the Vatican, and also received commissions for paintings and fresco decorations for various churches and palaces in Rome. . . . Although he worked in Rome for most of his career, Tempesta continued to earn significant commissions from Florentine patrons, including the Medici Grand Dukes. . . . Antonio Tempesta's work as a painter remains much less well known today, however, than his activity as a draughtsman and printmaker. He was a productive etcher who, as one scholar has noted, 'stands out as one of the most prolific and influential printmakers of the 17th century . . . and dominated the printmaking business in Rome between 1590 and 1630.' Tempesta created more than 1,400 prints, including a large number of hunting and battle scenes. . . . These kinds of cavalry and battle scenes are also the subject of many of the artist's drawings, which often find echoes in his etchings. Tempesta's battle compositions are generally scenes of dramatic action but often lack a single dominant figure, nor is there usually any sustained attempt at a narrative context. The artist's interest in depictions of military campaigns and hunting scenes may be a legacy of his training with Stradanus in Florence, where he also would have seen similar battle scenes throughout the decoration of the Palazzo Vecchio."
– from biographical notes published by Stephen Ongpin Fine Art, London
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| Antonio Tempesta Hercules battling Centaurs 1608 etching British Museum |
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| Antonio Tempesta Hunting Scene before 1630 drawing Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Antonio Tempesta Boar Hunt before 1630 drawing Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Antonio Tempesta Battle Scene before 1630 drawing Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Antonio Tempesta Battle Scene before 1630 drawing Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Antonio Tempesta Battle Scene 1605 drawing Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide |
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| Antonio Tempesta Battle of Jericho 1613 engraving Yale University Art Gallery |
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| Antonio Tempesta Battle of the Israelites and the Amalekites before 1630 engraving Yale University Art Gallery |
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| Antonio Tempesta Battle of the Greeks and Amazons 1600 etching Harvard University Art Museums |
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| Antonio Tempesta The Exterminating Angel slays the Army of Sennacherib 1613 etching Harvard University Art Museums |