STRADANUS (Jan vander Stract)
100 The Arno with Fishermen
Pen and brown ink, brown and blue wash, and white
gouache heightening on gray paper, irregular section cut
out and replaced at bottom center by artist; H: 20.3 cm
(8in.);W: 3ocm(ii^1 3/i 6 in.)
83.00.380
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: (Recto) at bottom left cor-
ner, inscribed j. Stradanus in brown ink; (verso) collec-
tion marks of John Clermont Witt (L. 6s6a), W. A.
Baillie-Grohman (L. 370).
PROVENANCE: W. A. Baillie-Grohman, London and
Chateau de Matzen, Tyrol; John Clermont Witt, Lon-
don; private collection (sale, Christie's, Amsterdam,
November 15, 1983, lot 3).
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: None.COSIMO I COMMISSIONED FROM STRADANUS DESIGNS
for tapestries showing hunting scenes to decorate the
Medici villa at Poggio a Caiano. The first tapestry made
after Stradanus' designs was executed in 1567, but the
project was still incomplete ten years later.^1 Four of the
designs resulting from this program were engraved in
1570 and another forty in I578.^2 The engraving made
from the Museum's drawing appears as plate 42 in the
second of these series, which is dedicated to Cosimo I de'
Medici. The planned tapestry series for Poggio a Caiano
included fishing scenes,^3 and it is not unlikely that this
drawing reflects one of those original designs. In addi-
tion the engraving was copied in a stucco relief in the
courtyard of the Palazzo della Gherardesca, Florence.^4
The scene represented shows fishermen on the
Arno, with a personification of the river and the marzoceo
of Florence beneath him. The lower central section of the
original sheet has been cut out, and the portion contain-
ing the river god is a replacement for a version discarded
by Stradanus. It has been suggested by L. Hendrix that
this may have been done in order to include the person-
ification of the Arno. This drawing is complementary to
another by Stradanus showing fishing on the Arno at
flood season (as opposed to low water and from the op-
posite direction) (Witt collection, London, inv. 1634; for-
merly Baillie-Grohman collection, London).^5- D. Heikamp, "Die Arazzeria Medicea im 16. Jahrhundert,
Neue Studien," Munchnerjahrbuch der bildenden Kunst 20 (1969),
pp. 47-57- - F. W. H. Hollstein, Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings
and Woodcuts, ca. i^o—ijoo (Amsterdam, 1949), vols. 4, nos.
512-515; 7, nos. 528-567. - Heikamp (note i) pp. 49-50.
- D. van Sasse van Ysselt, "II Cardinale Alessandro de' Medici
committente dello Strandano (1585-1587)," Mitteilungen des
Kunsthistorischen Institutes inFlorenz 24 (1980), pt. 2, p. 218. - As mentioned in Christie's, Amsterdam, sale catalogue
(November 26, 1984); see W. A. Baillie-Grohman, Sport in Art:
An Iconography of Sport (London, 1919), fig. 78.
226 FLEMISH SCHOOL • STRADANUS