Minerva/athena After Parmigianino – Engraving By Cornelis Visscher, Cabinet Reynst, 17th–18th C

Minerva/Athena after Parmigianino – Engraving by Cornelis Visscher, Cabinet Reynst, 17th–18th c.

Engraving by Cornelis Visscher, plate ca. 1658 for the Cabinet Reynst: Dutch merchants in Venice commissioned engravings to represent their collection of Italian masterpieces, including Parmigianino’s Minerva; example in an early state (II or IV).

The engraving depicts Minerva/Athena in half-length, looking downwards, beneath an architectural arch. The model is the Minerva painted by Parmigianino around 1530–1533, today preserved in the Royal Collection at Hampton Court. The identification of the goddess is given by the cameo on her breastplate, adorned with a flying Victory holding an olive branch above the ideal view of Athens. The figure embodies the Mannerist ideal of slender and elegant beauty.

According to Hollstein, the engraving is known in four states:

• First state: before any inscription;

• Second state: with the sole signature Corn. Visscher sculp. at lower left, empty cartouche;

• Third state: with inscriptions added for the Cabinet Reynst edition;

• Fourth state: posthumous printing, early 18th century, still with only the signature in the plate.

The present impression measures about 38 × 26 cm, on laid antique paper, bearing only Cornelis Visscher’s signature. The freshness of the line, sharp and little worn, suggests the second state (17th century); the more compact paper, however, may place it in the early 18th century (fourth state). In both cases, it is an early impression taken from the original plate engraved in 1658.

Comparable examples are preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the British Museum, London.

Condition: good, antique laid paper, margins preserved, fine impression with original patina.