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1571 Bartolomeo Passarotti - Portrait of Giulio Franchini, three-quarter length, aged 38

(Private collection)

#1570s #16th century #men #Bartolomeo Passarotti

Domenico Tibaldi - Pope Gregory XIII and Prudence with a mirror (1572) Pope Gregory XIII is known to all of us because it was he who introduced the Gregorian calendar that we still follow today (at least we in the Western world - amusingly many parts of the world actually have very different ways of understanding and counting time).

The future pope was born Ugo Boncompagni, a member of an old and respected family that happened to have a dragon on its coat of arms. And in this drawing it is a dragon that pushes the globe toward the pope, as if suggesting to govern it (pun very intended). The dragon is multitasking, also acting as a conventional Serpent of Prudence.

The inscription on the globe reads:

EN VIGILIS GREMIO PRUDENTIA POSVIT ORBEM IVSTITIA ET CHARITES VT MODERENTVR OMNIA

which can be roughly translated as:

Prudence placed the world in the vigilant embrace, so that Justice and Charity might govern (or moderate) all things.

(Notice the small figurines of Justice and Charity on the pope’s throne.)

Also note the tiny signature beneath the seat: Passarotto I. This marks the real creator of the design, the Italian painter Bartolomeo Passarotti. His first version was a drawing, almost identical in composition, with only a few differences.

Or rather it was Domenico Tibaldi who enhanced the drawing with additional details and engraved it, making his version far more widely known.

#Domenico Tibald #Prudence #mirror #Bartolomeo Passarotti #dragon #snake #globe

Portrait of a young man as a saint, perhaps Francesco I de' Medici (1541-1587), by Bartolomeo Passarotti, 1560s, Private collection (oil on panel, 20.5 x 14.2 cm, inscribed upper right: F./ A.).

Browse >>> Renaissance Poland-Lithuania - The Realm of Venus - Art in Poland (Artinpl) >>> for more ...

Identification of the sitter by Marcin Latka (Artinpl).

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