Schola Italica Picturae Sive Selectae Quaedam Summorum E Schola Italica Pictorum Tabulae Aere Incisae

RA Collection: Book

Record number

03/2289

Imprint

Cura Et Impensis Gavini Hamilton Pictoris, Romae: MDCCLXXIII

Physical Description

40 pl (incl. t.-pl.).; 592 mm. (Folio).

General Note

Brunet and Graesse describe the work as having 41 plates including the title-plate ('41 pieces le titre compris' and '41 pl. y compris le titre'). In the Royal Academy's copy pl. numbered 35-38 appear to have had their numbering altered after engraving.

Responsibility Note

All plates carry the name of the source-artist and that of the engraver - in most cases that of Hamilton's usual collaborator, Domenico Cunego (21 plates); in other cases, those of G. Volpato, A. Capellani, C.Tinti, G. Perini, A. Campanella or F. Lonsing.

References

Calcografia Nazionale (Rome), Catalogo generale, ed. C.A. Petrucci (1953), 972-1011; Art and its images [exhibition catalogue] (1975), pp.32-33, cat. no.5 (this copy). D. Irwin, 'Gavin Hamilton: archaeologist, painter and dealer', in Art bulletin, 44 (1962), p.87-102.

Summary Note

The publication-date of 1773 is carried by the title-plate and plates 16, 18, 20. But the title-plate is also signed as engraved in 1771. Most plates carry earlier publication dates - of 1769 (pl. 25, 28, 35), 1770 (pl. 5, 21, 22, 26, 30, 37), 1771 (pl. 1, 6-8, 15, 33, 36, 38), 1772 (pl. 2-4, 9-14, 17, 19, 23, 24, 27, 29, 31, 32, 39, 40). One plate (34) is undated.

During his long residence in Rome Gavin Hamilton supplemented his income as a history painter by dealing in engravings, Roman antiquities and Italian paintings.

The plates show pictures by F. Albani, Barocci, Fra Bartolommeo, J. Bassano, Caravaggio, Ag. Carracci, Ann. Carracci, L. Carracci, Corregio, Domenichino, Giorgione, Guercino, Leonardo, Michelangelo, G. Palma, Parmigianino, Raphael, Guido Reni, G. Romano, A. del Sarto, Tintoretto, Titian and Veronese. Each plate carries a Latin caption stating the title and location of the picture. The locations include places outside Rome. Some are described as being in public, but many as in private, collections - three in London (pl. 25, 28, 34). Only one picture is described as being in Gavin Hamilton's own collection (pl. 35 - Guido Reni's St. Jerome) - but others among them are believed to have been owned or sold by him, such as Raphael's Ansidei Madonna, Raphael's St. John Baptist, Dosso Dossi's Adoration of the Magi (all now in the National Gallery, London).

The work was reissued in Paris ca. 1807, retaining the title-plate dated 1773 (as part of the first Paris edition of Piranesi's works).

Provenance

Acquired between 1773 and 1802. Recorded in A Catalogue Of The Library In The Royal Academy, London (1802).

Binding Note

20th-century red buckram; `Schola Italica picturae. 1773. R.A.' gilt-stamped on spine.

Subject

Paintings, Italian - Paintings, European - 16th century - 17th century - Renaissance - Baroque
Pictorial works - Italy - 18th century

Contributors

Gavin Hamilton, publisher
Domenico Cunego, engraver
Giovanni Volpato, engraver
Angelo Campanella, engraver
Antonio Capellan, engraver
Camillo Tinti, engraver
Francois-Joseph Lonsing, engraver
Giuseppe Perini, engraver