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Angelica e Medoro
Angelica e Medoro, detail
Angelica e Medoro, detail

Neoclassical, Art, Mythology, Angelica & Medoro, Antique Engraving, Italy, 18th Century (Sold)

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Teodoro Matteini (1754-1831) (after)
Giovanni Folo (1764-1836) (engraver)
Angelica e Medoro in Varj Modi Legati Insieme di Diversi Nodi
Giovanni Folo, Rome: c. 1795
Engraving, uncolored
15.75 x 13.75 inches, image size
19.75 x 15.5 inches, platemark
21 x 17.25 inches, overall

Engraving based on a painting by Teodoro Matteini depicting a scene from Ludivico Ariosto’s epic poem Orlando Furioso. Angelica, an Asian princess at the court of Charlemagne, lies across the lap of her lover, the Saracen knight Medoro, while writing their names on the trunk of a tree. In Orlando Furioso, a 16th-century work, the central character, Orlando, is a Christian knight during the war between Charlemagne’s Christian paladins and the invading Saracen army. Among the central themes is Orlando’s unrequited love for Angelica, who instead elopes with Medoro to China. The romance between Angelica and Medoro inspired many paintings by Old Master artists from the Renaissance through the 19th century. An inscription in the lower margin identifies the scene as being from the 19th stanza, 36th verse, and dedicates it to Count Girio Caradori. An alternate edition of this print engraved by Raphael Morgehen and dated 1795 was issued for the British market; instead it was dedicated to His Royal Highness Prince Frederic Augustus.

Product description continues below.

Description

Teodoro Matteini was a painter, designer and engraver in Venice, known for his neoclassical portraits, altarpieces and history paintings. Following studies in Rome with Batoni and Mengs, he worked in Florence and Milan. He settled in Venice around 1800 and became a professor at the Academy there in 1807. His daughter, Anna, became a landscape painter.

Giovanni Folo was an Italian engraver. Born in Bassano, after studying painting there, he went to Rome where he worked in the studio of Giovanni Volpato. Folo engraved numerous works after the Old Masters, including Raphael, da Vinci, Poussin, Correggio, Michaelangelo and others, notably Christ Raising the Son of the Widow of Nain after Annibale Carracci. He was member of the Academy of St. Luke in Rome and received the gold medal of the Academy of Milan in 1807.

Full publication information: “Angelica e Medoro in Varj Modi Legati Insieme di Diversi Nodi, Orl. Fur. C. XIX S.36. All’Ornatissimo Sig. Conte Girio Caradori. Giovanni Folo D.D.D. Teodoro Matteini invento. Gio. Folo Veneto inc. e vende in Roma.”

References:

“Angelica e Medoro.” Wikipedia. 14 January 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelica_and_Medoro (2 March 2015).

“Angelica e Medoro in Varj Modi Legati Insieme di Diversi Nodi.” British Museum. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3227858&partId=1&people=115443&peoA=115443-2-23&page=1 (2 March 2015).

Bénézit, E. Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs. France: Librairie Gründ, 1966. Vol. 3, pp. 798-799 (Folo); Vol. 6, p. 2 (Matteini).

“Matteini, Teodoro.” Treccani.it. http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/teodoro-matteini/ (2 March 2015).

“Orlando Furioso.” Wikipedia. 14 February 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_Furioso (2 March 2015).

Additional information

Century

18th Century