DISSEMINATION, "PLAGIARISM" AND ARCHITECTURAL ENGRAVINGS IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY EUROPE. THE CASE OF MELCHIOR KÜSEL'S BIBLE In 1908 the Austrian art historian Erika Tietze-Conrat published an article on the Icones Biblicae Veteris et Novi Testamenti, an illustrated bible published in Augsburg in 1680 by the German engraver Melchior Küsel. The scholar had fully understood that the peculiarity of this Bilderbibel lied not only in the 241 plates that Küsel had added as a setting and background for the many stories taken from the Old and New Testaments, but also in the selection of iconographic sources. Almost all the engravings were not the result of Küsel's inventions; he had created new versions from famous originals of diverse origin, which had come into his possession or were reproduced during his intense activity as an engraver in Germany, Austria and Italy. Tietze-Conrat had discovered Küsel’s curious work of "interpolation" and, through meticulous research conducted in Vienna’s antique collections, had drawn up a list of 110 "inspired" Bible plates by matching them with the original engravings that inspired them. However, her research was limited to identifying the famous paintings (by Raphael, Veronese, Rembrandt and many others), already reproduced and in circulation in seventeenth-century Europe through so-called "translation printing”. The engravings of architectural perspectives that Küsel had also included in his repertoire had therefore been left out of Tietze-Conrat's praiseworthy research work. One hundred and ten years on, this study now adds the pairs related to architecture, including authors such as Donato Bramante, Galeazzo Alghisi, Maarten van Heemskerck, Wenceslaus Hollar, and Jean Le Pautre. The aim is to find an explanation for this publication - which came at the time of the founding of the first German art academies - which does not renounce invention and indirectly bears witness to the desire to fascinate less educated readers as well as to capture an audience of collectors, to offer experts a sort of game of more or less covert references and quotations. This study also allows us to explore the themes of the diffusion and the criteria for manipulating images of architecture in seventeenth-century Europe, starting from the cases identified in this unique bible by one of the most receptive and ambitious ateliers of the time.

DIVULGAZIONI, “PLAGI” E INCISIONI DI ARCHITETTURA NEL SEICENTO EUROPEO. IL CASO DELLA BIBBIA DI MELCHIOR KÜSEL Nel 1908 la storica dell’arte austriaca Erika Tietze-Conrat pubblicava un articolo su sull’ Icones Biblicae Veteris et Novi Testamenti…, una bibbia illustrata edita ad Augsburg nel 1680 dall’incisore tedesco Melchior Küsel. La studiosa aveva colto come la peculiarità di questa Bilderbibel risiedesse non soltanto nelle 241 tavole che Küsel aveva inserito come corredo e sfondo delle molte storie tratte dal vecchio e dal nuovo testamento, quanto nella selezione delle fonti iconografiche. La quasi totalità delle incisioni non era frutto di invenzioni di Küsel che aveva realizzato nuovi rami a partire da originali celebri, di provenienza eterogenea, entrati in suo possesso o riprodotti nel corso della sua intensa attività di incisore tra la Germania, l’Austria e l’Italia. Tietze-Conrat aveva scoperto il curioso lavoro di “interpolazione” di Küsel e, attraverso una meticolosa ricerca condotta presso le collezioni antiquarie viennesi, aveva stilato un elenco di 110 tavole della bibbia “ispirate” accoppiandole alle incisioni originali “ispiratrici”. Questa ricerca era però limitata all’individuazione delle opere pittoriche famose (di Raffaello, Veronese, Rembrandt e molti altri), già riprodotte e in circolazione nell’Europa del XVII secolo grazie alla cosiddetta “stampa di traduzione”. Le incisioni raffiguranti prospettive architettoniche che Küsel aveva pure incluso nel suo repertorio erano pertanto rimaste fuori dall’encomiabile lavoro della Tietze-Conrat. A centodieci anni di distanza il presente studio aggiunge all’elenco le coppie relative all’architettura, che contemplano autori quali Donato Bramante, Galeazzo Alghisi, Maarten van Heemskerck, Wenceslaus Hollar, Jean Le Pautre. L’obiettivo è quello trovare una spiegazione per questa pubblicazione - sorta nell’epoca della fondazione delle prime accademie d’arte tedesche - che non rinuncia all’invenzione e denuncia indirettamente il desiderio di ammaliare i lettori meno colti ma anche di intercettare un pubblico di collezionisti, di offrire agli intendenti una sorta di gioco di rimandi e di citazioni, più o meno scoperti. Questo studio consente inoltre di esplorare i temi della diffusione e dei criteri di manipolazione delle immagini di architettura nel Seicento europeo, a partire dai casi individuati in questa curiosa bibbia proveniente da uno degli atelier più ricettivi e ambiziosi del tempo.

Sutera, D. (2018). Divulgazioni, plagi e incisioni di architettura nel Seicento europeo. Il caso della Bibbia di Melchior Küsel. BOLLETTINO D'ARTE, 35-36, 167-182.

Divulgazioni, plagi e incisioni di architettura nel Seicento europeo. Il caso della Bibbia di Melchior Küsel

Sutera, Domenica
2018-01-01

Abstract

DISSEMINATION, "PLAGIARISM" AND ARCHITECTURAL ENGRAVINGS IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY EUROPE. THE CASE OF MELCHIOR KÜSEL'S BIBLE In 1908 the Austrian art historian Erika Tietze-Conrat published an article on the Icones Biblicae Veteris et Novi Testamenti, an illustrated bible published in Augsburg in 1680 by the German engraver Melchior Küsel. The scholar had fully understood that the peculiarity of this Bilderbibel lied not only in the 241 plates that Küsel had added as a setting and background for the many stories taken from the Old and New Testaments, but also in the selection of iconographic sources. Almost all the engravings were not the result of Küsel's inventions; he had created new versions from famous originals of diverse origin, which had come into his possession or were reproduced during his intense activity as an engraver in Germany, Austria and Italy. Tietze-Conrat had discovered Küsel’s curious work of "interpolation" and, through meticulous research conducted in Vienna’s antique collections, had drawn up a list of 110 "inspired" Bible plates by matching them with the original engravings that inspired them. However, her research was limited to identifying the famous paintings (by Raphael, Veronese, Rembrandt and many others), already reproduced and in circulation in seventeenth-century Europe through so-called "translation printing”. The engravings of architectural perspectives that Küsel had also included in his repertoire had therefore been left out of Tietze-Conrat's praiseworthy research work. One hundred and ten years on, this study now adds the pairs related to architecture, including authors such as Donato Bramante, Galeazzo Alghisi, Maarten van Heemskerck, Wenceslaus Hollar, and Jean Le Pautre. The aim is to find an explanation for this publication - which came at the time of the founding of the first German art academies - which does not renounce invention and indirectly bears witness to the desire to fascinate less educated readers as well as to capture an audience of collectors, to offer experts a sort of game of more or less covert references and quotations. This study also allows us to explore the themes of the diffusion and the criteria for manipulating images of architecture in seventeenth-century Europe, starting from the cases identified in this unique bible by one of the most receptive and ambitious ateliers of the time.
2018
Settore ICAR/18 - Storia Dell'Architettura
Sutera, D. (2018). Divulgazioni, plagi e incisioni di architettura nel Seicento europeo. Il caso della Bibbia di Melchior Küsel. BOLLETTINO D'ARTE, 35-36, 167-182.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10447/352264
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