| P3 has note
| - The lampwork panels: stories and print sources
There are 18 lampwork panels, captioned as follows:
Upper row, from left: DAPHNÆ, ANDROMEDA, ACTEON, [panel title missing], TRIONPHVS BACHI, NARCISVS, IO, IO IN VACAM, ARGVS
Lower row, from left: TISBÆ, PIRAMVS, CORONIS, ATLANTIADES, DIANA, ARCADES, ERICHTONIVM, PARIS, BATTVS.
In theory, the titling of the panels should make them easy to read, but in fact their legibility is severely compromised by the many losses, especially of figures. Identification of the print sources used could help reconstruct each panel (as well as the dating of the instrument). An exensive survey (spring 2014) of pre-c.1620 printed scenes depicting scenes from Ovid's Metamorphoses suggests that where the influence of a printed design can be found, the lampwork panels tend to follow figures and elements of composition (such as trees) rather than replicate a print comprehensively. The lampwork craftsman/men tend(s) to add prominent architectural features, trees, foliage and ‘rockery,’ presumably because these lent themselves to representation using lampwork techniques.
Some of the lampwork panels do appear to show the influence of specific prints in certain details (as listed below), but the panels do not follow any single source consistently, and one scene - Erichtonium - is not illustrated in any of the Metamorphoses series surveyed.
Woodcuts by Virgil Solis (1514-1562), a German draughtsman and printmaker from Nuremburg, for METAMORPHOSES OVIDII, ARGVMENTIS QUI//dem soluta oratione, Enarrationibus autem & Allegoriis Elegiaco uersu accuratissime expositae, summaque diligentia ac studio illustratae, per M. IOHAN. SPRENGIVM AVGVSTAN. una cum uiuis singularum transformationum Iconibus a Virgilio Solis, eximio pictore, delineatis. Frankfurt: G. Coruinus, S. Feyerabent, & haeredes VVygandi Galli, 1563. Solis had relied heavily (and reversed) illustrations by Bernard Salomon (1506-1561), a French draftsman and engraver, for the Métamorphose Figurée (Lyon, 1557). The influence of one or other (in general Solis) may be observed seen in 6 panels: Andromeda, Actaeon, Narcisus, Thisbe, Pyramus, Atlantiades - and possibly in Io, Io in vacam and Argus.
Engravings by Crispijn de Passe for Metamorphoseon Ovidianarum (Cologne, 1602-04). De Passe made use of Goltzius’ designs and copied some of their Latin verse captions. Both Goltzius and de Passe seem to have made use of Antonio Tempesta, Metamorphoseon ... Ovidianarum (ca. 1585, but published 1606), as well as Solis/Salomon. The influence of de Passe is seen on 3 panels, in the use of composition and buildings: Daphne, Actaeon and Narcisus, and less clearly in two others - Io in vacam(?), Pyramus(?). and possibly Andromeda.
Engraved illustrations to Ovid’s Metamorphoses by Hendrik Goltzius, published in Haarlem in 1589/90/1615, may have influenced 2 panels (beyond the extent to which Goltzius himself had used prints by Solis or Salomon): Battus and Arcades, and possibly Io in vacam.
In this complex situation, with lampwork panels that show the influence of various sources (and occasionally none), it appears most likely that the designer of the lampwork panels made use of a range of prints by Virgil Solis (Bernard Salomon), Crispjn de Passe, and Goltzius – or a later, composite source that has not yet been identified - which would suggest a terminus post quem of 1602-4 for the glass virginals. The lack of any identified illustrative source for the story of Erichthonius suggests that at least one other source was used for the instrument. The hypothesis of a range of sources, perhaps used alongside other personalised workshop drawings, might be said to match the proposed circumstances of its creation in a highly design-literate court workshop, well versed in scenes from Ovid worked in a variety of media, undertaking an ambitious commission in a relatively experimental (and graphically limited) medium, that of lampworked glass.
Upper row 1; DAPHNÆ
The story: Daphne changed into a laurel tree by her father, Peneus, in order to escape the amorous advances of Apollo who had been struck by a gold-tipped arrow from Cupid. [Ovid, Metamorphoses, I, 451-567]
Possible print source(s): De Passe possibly the strongest influence, but Solis also possible.
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Upper row 2; ANDROMEDA
The story: Andromeda, a Greek princess who was chained to a rock as a sacrifice to a sea monster; ultimately rescued and married by Perseus. Andromeda is typically featured chained to a rock. [Ovid, Metamorphoses, IV, 671-761]
Possible print source(s): Solis and De Passe.
Upper row 3; ACTEON
The story: Actaeon, while hunting, comes across Diana, the virgin goddess of hunting, who is bathing naked in a grotto. He is then changed into a stag by the goddess, and consumed by his own hounds. [Ovid, Metamorphoses, III, 139-252]
Possible print source(s): Salomon or De Passe
Upper row 4; caption missing
The figure of a man running through wooden landscape cannot be identified with confidence.
Upper row 5; TRIONPHVS BACHI
The story: The Triumph of Bacchus usually features a procession full of movement and life with Maenads and Satyrs celebrating with pipes and cymbals.
Possible print source(s): Losses preclude confident identification, but possibly Salomon
Upper row 6; NARCISVS
The story: Narcissus, by divine intervention, fell in love with his own reflection. Not realising it was just an image, Narcissus wasted away until death, unable to leave the pool with the projection of his beautiful reflection. [Ovid, Metamorphoses, III, 407-510]
Possible print source(s): De Passe or Salomon
Upper row 7; IO
The story: Io, the first priestess of Juno, wife of Jupiter. Jupiter fell in love with Io and after he raped her, changed her into a white heifer in order to protect her from the wrath of Juno. [Ovid, Metamorphoses, I, 585-611]
Possible print source(s): no obvious source and losses preclude confident identification.
Upper row 8; IO IN VACAM
The story: Io, the first priestess of Juno, wife of Jupiter. Jupiter fell in love with Io and changed her into a white heifer in order to protect her from the wrath of Juno. [Ovid, Metamorphoses, I, 585-611]
Possible print source(s): Losses preclude confident identification - the panel is presumed to be missing the reclining figure of Jupiter (L) and a heifer (R). Furthermore, the absence of a chariot in Solis and de Passe undermine the case for a source print in Solis (Salomon) or de Passe.
Upper row 9; ARGVS
The story: Mercury killing Argus. Argus was sent by Juno to guard Io, who had been turned into a white cow by Jupiter. Argus was killed by Mercury and his eyes were set into the feathers of Juno’s peacocks. [Ovid, Metamorphoses, I, 624-88; 722-3]
Possible print source(s): No source identified.The lampwork has lost most of the figures except the crowned figure (top left) probably representing Juno, and the goats (lower right), making identification very difficult.
LOWER ROW
Lower Row 1; TISBÆ
The story: Thisbe fleeing the lion. Thisbe was a young Babylonian girl in love with Pyramus. The young lovers defied their parents by conversing through a crack in a wall. Thisbe kills herself after discovering the lifeless body of Pyramus. [Ovid, Metamorphoses, IV, 56-166]
Possible print source(s): Solis/Solomon. The ‘TISBÆ’ panel is missing the lion and fleeing Thisbe. Salomon and Solis show the very distinctive full moon and stars seen in the panel (and PIRAMVS).
Lower Row 2; PIRAMVS
The story: Suicides of Pyramus and Thisbe. Pyramus, a young Babylonian boy in love with Thisbe. On believing Thisbe had died from wounds given by a lion, Pyramus commits suicide; Thisbe returns to find his body and commits suicide herself. [Ovid, Metamorphoses, IV, 55-166]
Possible print source(s): Solis/Solomon with de Passe possibly inspiring the pose of Thisbe. The ‘PIRAMVS’ scene featured on the virginal, with the suicide of Thisbe and fleeing lion is presumably missing the body of Pyramus, and possibly a statue on the column fountain.
Lower Row 3; CORONIS
The story: Coronis, a woman of unrivalled beauty who was loved by Apollo, however, Coronis loved another. Apollo discovered this news from his raven, at the time white in colour, ‘pure as the swans whose home is the rivers’. With the delivery of the news of Coronis, Apollo turned the raven black for eternity. [Ovid, Metamorphoses, XII, 542-7; 598-632; 603-11]
Possible print source(s): No source found.
Lower Row 4; ATLANTIADES
The story: Probably depicting Mercury (also known as Atlantiades) and Herse (Ovid, Met., 2:708-832) Mercury is usually shown flying above 3 sisters with baskets on their heads (with one of whom Herse, Mercury is enamoured), returning from the temple of Minerva. Mercury later turns to black stone another of the sisters Aglauros who obstructs their union out of envy.
Possible print source(s): Solis (Mercury enamoured of Herse), but with a belltower(?) elaborating the temple .
Lower Row 5; DIANA
The story: possibly depicting Diana discovering the pregnancy of Callisto rather than Diana bathing
Possible print source(s): no source found and losses preclude identification.
Lower row 6; ARCADES.
The story: Arcas was the son of Jupiter and Callisto, king of Arcadia and a great hunter. Diana changed Callisto (after her seduction by Jupiter) into a bear. When Arcas unknowingly was about to kill his mother, Jupiter turned them both into constellations – the great and little bears. [Ovid, Metamorphoses, II, 496-507]. The lampwork panel is missing the central figure of Arcas with a bow.
Possible print source(s): possibly de Passe or Goltzius. The print after Hendrik Goltzius helps to identify the sky figures of the bear and Arcas received by Jupiter (?) with his eagle.
Lower row 7; ERICHTONIVM
The story: Erichthonius was a son of Vulcan, born without a mother. He was the King of Athens and a skilled charioteer. He is said to have built a temple to Athena on the Acropolis, the Erechtheium, and is represented by the constellation Aurgia, the charioteer. [Ovid, Metamorphoses, II & IX, 553-62; 423.
Possible print source(s): No source found.
Lower row 8; PARIS
The story: Paris, a Prince of Troy, his abduction of Helen brought about the Trojan War. He also judged a beauty contest between the goddesses Venus, Juno and Minerva. The award was a golden apple. [Ovid, Metamorphoses, XII, 599-609]
Possible print source(s): no source found and the loss of figures makes identification of the source much harder. Subject not included in Salomon or Solis.
Lower row 9; BATTVS
The story: Battus, an old herdsman, watches Apollo’s cattle get stolen, shown to be a liar and turned into flint by Mercury. [Ovid, Metamorphoses, II, 267-707]
Possible print source(s): possibly Gotzius or de Passe reversed.
References
De Passe's series is reproduced separately in a 1980 Garland reprint in Ilja M. Veldman's Profit and Pleasure: Print Books by Crispijn de Passe, tr. M. Hoyle and C. Klein (Studies in Prints and Printmaking, Vol. IV), Rotterdam, 2001, 73-84, 189-241, 317-84. References given here are to the Solis and Goltzius plate nos. in the New Hollstein edition, and for de Passe to the Veldman fig. nos. Note that Goltzius' series is reproduced in The Illustrated Bartsch, 165 vols., New York, 1978- (Vol. III, 313-38, "After Goltzius" 31-82 [104]), as are series by Solis (Vol. XIX/1, 7.0-178) and Tempesta (Vol. XXXVI, 638-787).
Hollstein’s German Engravings, Etchings and Woodcuts 1400-1700, Volume LXVII – Virgil Solis, Part II, compiled by Dieter Beaujean, edited by Giulia Bartrum (Rotterdam: Sound and Vision Publishers, 2006).
The New Hollstein Dutch and Flemish Engravings, Etchings and Woodcuts 1450-1700, Volume VIII – Hendrik Goltzius, Part III, compiled by Marjolein Leesberg, edited by Huigen Leeflang (Amsterdam: Sound and Vision Publishers, 2012).
Examples for the illustrations on Goltzius can also be found on the LACMA website. ‘Hendrik Goltzius (after)’, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, accessed 16 May 2014, http://collections.lacma.org/node/156458.
Goltzius may also have made use of ills by Antonio Tempesta, Metamorphoseon ... Ovidianarum (ca. 1585, 1606); later used as engravings in Johan Wilhelm Baur, [Ovidii Metamorphosis] (ca. 1641), but possibly published as early as 1639. (en)
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