Sunday, July 3, 2016

Chiaroscuro Woodcuts by Andrea Andreani

Andrea Andreani after Pordenone
Saturn with Balances
1604
chiaroscuro woodcut
British Museum

Andrea Andreani (ca. 1540-1623) of Mantua is remembered as the pioneer of colored woodcuts in 16th-century Italy. He carved multiple blocks for a single image and then inked each block with a different color. The death's head immediately below is exceptional because Andreani composed it himself, while most of his prints were based on pre-existing paintings or sculptures made by other Renaissance artists.

Andrea Andreani
Memento Mori
ca. 1586-1610
chiaroscuro woodcut
British Museum

Andrea Andreani after Alessandro Cassolani
Memento Mori
1591
chiaroscuro woodcut
British Museum

Andrea Andreani after Niccolò Bodrini
St Sebastian (one of six panels, each with a different saint)
1590s
chiaroscuro woodcut
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Andrea Andreani after Niccolò Bodrini
Six Saints (assembled from separately printed panels)
1590s
chiarsoscuro woodcut
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Above, a group of saints printed on separate sheets and subsequently joined together.

Below, three different woodcuts with views from three different perspectives of Giambologna's famous marble sculpture group depicting a woman abducted by soldiers, publicly displayed in Florence since its completion in 1582.

Andrea Andreani after Giambologna
Rape of the Sabine Women
1584
chiaroscuro woodcut
British Museum

Andreani Andrea after Giambologna
Rape of the Sabine Women
1585
chiaroscuro woodcut
British Museum

Andrea Andreani after Giambologna
Rape of the Sabine Women
1584
chiaroscuro woodcut
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Andreani copied Andrea Mantegna's tapestry cartoons for the Triumph of Julius Caesar. These were displayed in Andreani's native Mantua until 1628 when they were sold to Charles I of England. Andreani also printed a sheet of ornamented Corinthian pilasters, to be snipped out and pasted as linkages between the woodcut triumph-scenes (as below).

Andrea Andreani after Andrea Mantegna
Triumph if Julius Caesar (two panels connected by separately printed pilasters)
1599
chiaroscuro woodcut
National Gallery of Art (U.S.)

Andrea Andreani after Andrea Mantegna
Six Corinthian Pilasters (for use as connectors between Triumphs)
1599
chiaroscuro woodcut
British Museum

Andrea Andreani after Domenico Beccafumi
Sacrifice of Isaac (assembled from panels)
late 16th century
chiaroscuro woodcut
Rijksmuseum

Andrea Andreani after Raffaellino da Reggio
Entombment
1585
chiaroscuro woodcut
British Museum

Andrea Andreani after Raffaellino da Reggio
Entombment
1585
chiaroscuro woodcut
Ashmolean Museum , Oxford

Andrea Andreani after Jacopo Ligozzi
Virtue surrounded by Error, Ignorance, and Opinion
1585
chiaroscuro woodcut
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford