Thursday, May 23, 2019

Paolo Farinati (1524-1606) - Graphic Mythologies

Paolo Farinati
Two River Nymphs
ca. 1573
drawing
British Museum

Paolo Farinati
Minerva and Prometheus
ca. 1560-80
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Paolo Farinati
Mars and Venus, with Cupid in Attendance
ca. 1580-1600
drawing
Teylers Museum, Haarlem

Paolo Farinati
Neptune in his Chariot
before 1606
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Paolo Farinati
Neptune in his Chariot
before 1606
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

from Contemplations

Ye Fish which in this liquid Region bide
That for each season have your habitation,
Now salt, now fresh where you think best to glide
To unknown coasts to give a visitation,
In Lakes and ponds, you leave your numerous fry.
So Nature taught, and yet you know not why,
You watry folk that know not your felicity.

Look how the wantons frisk to task the air,
Then to the colder bottom straight they dive;
Eftsoon to Neptune's glassy Hall repair
To see what trade they, great ones, there do drive,
Who forrage o're the spacious sea-green field
And take the trembling prey before it yield,
Whose armour is their scales, their spreading fins their shield.

– Anne Bradstreet (1678)

attributed to Paolo Farinati
Putto imitating Neptune, seated on a Turtle and holding a Trident
before 1606
drawing
British Museum

Paolo Farinati
Apollo and Marsyas
ca. 1570-75
drawing
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Paolo Farinati
Apollo with Lyre, and Cupid
ca. 1568
etching
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Paolo Farinati
Ceres changing Ascalaphus into a Bird of Evil Omen
before 1606
drawing
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Paolo Farinati
Sleeping Cupid
before 1606
etching
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Paolo Farinati
Perseus holding the Head of Medusa, with Pegasus in the Background
before 1606
drawing
Art Institute of Chicago

Paolo Farinati
Perseus and Andromeda
before 1606
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Paolo Farinati
Vestal Claudia pulling a Ship bearing the Statue of Cybele up the Tiber
before 1606
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Paolo Farinati
Frieze with Drunken Satyr and Putti
before 1606
etching
Rijksmuseum. Amsterdam

Paolo Farinati
Frieze with Putti, Birds, Armour and Weapons
before 1606
drawing
Harvard Art Museums