17th century ITALIAN school, follower of TEMPESTA - Lot 43

17th century ITALIAN school, follower of TEMPESTA The Valiant Gradass Il bello Narciso The Beautiful Narcissus Pair of paintings, on their original canvases 62 x 47.5 cm Missing No frame These two portraits are directly inspired by two engravings from a suite of twelve small prints (H 148 mm x W 108 mm); respectively no. 1368 "Le Vaillant Gradasso"; and no. 1358 "Le Beau Narcisse". Excerpts from "Les douze principaux héros et héroïnes des Romains représentés d'une manière grotesque et des plus burlesques" (nos. 1358-1369), in half-body, in cartouches (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris). References: Bartsch, Adam von (1757-1821), The Illustrated Bartsch, Italian masters of the sixteen century. Antonio Tempesta. Ed. by Sebastian Buffa, Abaris Books, New York, reed. 1984. Volume 37, pg. 198 (for no. 1358) and pg. 203 (for no. 1368). Previously published as vol. 17, part 4 in "Le peintre-graveur", by Adam Bartsch, Vienna, ed. 1818. Cf. also S. Samek Ludovici, "Caricature inedite di Antonio Tempesta", in Studi di biblioteconomia e storia del libro in onore di Francesco Barberi, Rome, 1976, pp. 513sqq.