2006.290: Musica

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2006.290

People

Unidentified Artist
After Cornelis Cort, Netherlandish (Hoorn, Netherlands 1533 - 1578 Rome, Italy)
After Frans Floris, Netherlandish (Antwerp 1519/20 - 1570 Antwerp)

Title

Musica

Other Titles

Series/Book Title: Seven Liberal Arts

Classification

Prints

Work Type

print

Date

after 1565

Culture

Italian?

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/317745

Physical Descriptions

Technique

Engraving

Dimensions

plate: 22.4 x 27.9 cm (8 13/16 x 11 in.)
sheet: 22.6 x 28.5 cm (8 7/8 x 11 1/4 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• Signed: l.l. margin; In Bologna F Josefo Longhi sotto le scole all' Insegna di s. Paolo
• inscription: verso, c.; graphite: Large numbers down center of print; difficult to read as the print is tipped down at the corners.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Acquisition Fund for Prints

Accession Year

2006

Object Number

2006.290

Division

European and American Art

Contact

am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu

Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Descriptions

Commentary

Around 1556 Frans Floris painted a cycle of the Seven Liberal Arts for Nicolaas Jongelinck, the wealthy Antwerp trader and toll collector who commissioned Bruegel's Seasons. In 1565, Cornelis Cort produced highly popular engravings after Floris's cycle. This print appears to be an engraving after Cort's engraving of Musica. It differs from Cort in several ways, particularly in the title MVSICA and detailed floral pattern on the clavier, which appear in Cort's engraving, but do not appear in this print. The inscription indicates Italian publishing: "In Bologna Josefo Longhi below the stairs at the sign of S. Paolo." This inscription does not appear in any of the Floris catalogues or Hollstein. Niccolò Nelli also published a copy of the series in Venice. This print, however, is unnumbered and further deemphasizes the work's relationship to the set by removing the title, Mvsica, from the clavier. In his Lives, Vasari recommended that Floris find himself a new engraver who could do his designs justice, which would seem to indicate he was unaware that this print was published outside of Floris's control by a Bolognese publisher. This publisher, however, was keenly aware of the desirability of Floris's art in the southern market when he decided to re-engrave Floris's composition. This print therefore represents a key document in the history of printmaking and the distribution of Northern art in Italy.

Verification Level