Image
Description
Maker
- Diana Mantovana, ca. 1547-1612, Italian, engraver
- After Giulio Romano, 1492/1499-1546, Italian, designer
- Antoine Lafréry, 1512-1577, French, publisher
Title
Year
Medium
Dimensions
-
Sheet: 31.5 x 41.3 cm (12 3/8 x 16 1/4 inches)
Signature / Inscription / Marks
-
inscr graphite, LL: et Diana Mantuana sculp
inscr ink LC: non dubitas divis ipse perir modis [completing legend as cut off]
watermark: anvil and hammer in a circle, similar to Briquet 5965, datable ca. 1578-80.
Type
Credit
-
Museum purchase, anonymous gift and Georgianna Sayles Aldrich Fund
Object Number
-
2014.93
About
This print by Diana Mantovani depicts the moment before the Carthaginians rolled Roman general Marcus Atilius Regulus down a hill in a nail-studded barrel. According to legend, after Regulus’s defeat in battle, he was sent by Carthage to Rome to negotiate the exchange of prisoners. Regulus instead convinced the Romans to continue fighting, despite knowing that if negotiations failed he would have to return to Carthage to face his gruesome punishment.
Born into a family of engravers, the artist based her design on a fresco by Giulio Romano for the ducal palace in Mantua. While very few women worked as printmakers during the Renaissance, Diana Mantovani’s work was widely admired at the time.
inscr graphite, LL: et Diana Mantuana sculp
inscr ink LC: non dubitas divis ipse perir modis [completing legend as cut off]
watermark: anvil and hammer in a circle, similar to Briquet 5965, datable ca. 1578-80.