Martino Rota
Martino Rota, also Martin Rota and Martin Rota Kolunić (c. 1520–1583) was an artist, now mainly known for his printmaking, from Dalmatia.[1][2]
Martino Rota was born in about the year 1520 in Šibenik (Sebenico), Dalmatia. Little is known of Rota's early life or where he trained as an engraver, but most of his documented career was spent working in Venice, Rome, and Vienna.[2][3]
Life
In about 1540, Rota appears in Rome, working as a reproductive engraver in the style of
Perhaps with Titian's recommendation, he moved to the
Work
Rota has been described as one of the most significant graphic artists of the second half of the 16th century,[3] though few if any of his prints were original compositions.
Chiefly an engraver of portraits, which he also painted, his drafting of the human figure is very correct, and he pays particular attention to extremities. He engraved plates entirely with the graving tool.[2] Rota showed Durerian naturalism and a Venetian feeling for material.[9] Like many printmakers of the period, he combined etching and engraving on the same plates, but in an unusually sensitive manner, exploiting the differences between the two techniques.[10]
He also engraved paintings by masters of the
The art collector
Rota's portrait of the Emperor Ferdinand I (1503–1564), pictured, may have been engraved from Deschler's medallion of 1561.[3] Other portraits he engraved include the Emperors Maximilian II and Rudolf II and King Henry IV of France.[2]
His masterpiece is considered to be an engraving after Michelangelo's The Last Judgment.[2]
Rota was active until his death in 1583, leaving a small number of plates incomplete, which were completed by his pupil Anselmus de Boodt.[14]
Signature
Rota usually signed his plates with his name, sometimes adding the names Sebenico and Venice,[15] but he sometimes used a monogram consisting of a capital 'M' and a pictogram of a wheel (Rota means 'wheel' in Latin).[2] The monogram is illustrated in Stefano Ticozzi's monumental Dizionario of 1830–1833.[16]
Exhibitions
From March to April 2003, an exhibition in the Print Department of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb, focused on works by Rota and by another native of Šibenik, Natale Bonifacio, held in Croatian collections.[9]
Gallery
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Carolus Clusius
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Gustav I Vasa of Sweden
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City of Rhodes
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Battle of Lepanto, 1571
Notes
- ^ Getty Union Artist Name List
- ^ a b c d e f Bryan, Michael, (revised by George Stanley) A Biographical and Critical Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, from the revival of the art under Cimabue, and the alleged discovery of engraving by Finiguerra, to the present time (London, H G. Bohn, 1849), page 662 online at books.google.co.uk (accessed 4 March 2008)
- ^ a b c d e Treasures — National and University Library, Zagreb online at theeuropeanlibrary.org (accessed 4 March 2008)
- ^ Bury, 190-91
- ^ Concise Grove, and Reed and Wallace
- ^ Reed & Wallace, 58
- ^ Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe, Copyright in the Renaissance: Prints and the Privilegio in sixteenth-century Venice and Rome 2004.
- ^ Reed and Wallace, op & page cit
- ^ a b c d Three Engravers from Šibenik Archived 2004-05-23 at archive.today at www.canvas.hr, accessed 15 July 2008
- ^ Reed and Wallace, 60
- ^ Catalogue entry at Bury, 191
- ^ Cumberland, George, An Essay on the Utility of Collecting the Best Works of the Ancient Engravers of the Italian School (London, Payne and Foss, 1827) page 6 online at books.google.co.uk, accessed 12 July 2008
- ^ Either Abraham Bloemaert or Cornelis Bloemaert may have been intended.
- ^ Martino Rota (Sebenico 1520 – Vienna 1583), Il riposo dalla Fuga in Egitto Archived 2015-02-04 at the Wayback Machine, in: Grafica Antica catalogo n° 49, p. 36.
- ^ Reed & Wallace
- ^ Ticozzi, Stefano, Dizionario degli architetti, scultori, pittori, intagliatori in rame ed in pietra, coniatori di medaglie, musaicisti, niellatori, intarsiatori d'ogni età e d'ogni nazione (3 volumes, Milan, 1830–1833)
References
- Bury, Michael; The Print in Italy, 1550-1620, 2001, British Museum Press, ISBN 0-7141-2629-2
- Reed, Sue Welsh & Wallace, Richard (eds), Italian Etchers of the Renaissance and Baroque, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 1989,pp 58–60,ISBN 0-87846-306-2or 304-4 (pb)
- Bergquist, Stephen A, "Some Early States by Martino Rota," Print Quarterly, XXIX, no. 1, 2012, pp. 33–36.