1602 DUCHETTI, C. / ORLANDINI, J. - [Naval battle].

The engraving was printed by Giovanni Orlandi in1602 from a copperplate originally engraved for the "Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae", with the imprints of Duchetti and Orlandi.

This engraving depicts a dramatic naval battle scene, showing two fleets engaged in close combat with sailors and soldiers fighting aboard galleys in turbulent waters. The print is attributed to the Master of the Die (Maestro del Dado), a notable sixteenth-century Roman engraver of the school of Marcantonio Raimondi, active around 1532–1550. It is based on designs associated with Giulio Romano or Polidoro da Caravaggio.

In the mid-sixteenth century, Italy was the principal centre of printmaking and cartography in Europe, concentrated primarily in Venice and Rome. Among the most important Roman publishers was Antonio Lafreri, whose major work is the Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, a vast corpus of copper-engraved plates depicting the monuments, architecture, and views of ancient as well as modern Rome. No two copies of the Speculum are identical, each compilation having been assembled to order according to the client’s wishes.

The Speculum originated in the joint publishing activities of Antonio Salamanca and Antonio Lafreri, active in Rome between 1553 and 1563. Engravings were offered individually to travellers and collectors, or gathered into composite volumes later bound. In 1573, Lafreri commissioned a title page for these compilations, marking the first appearance of the title Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae. Although he conceived an ideal arrangement of the plates into seven categories, Lafreri never issued a standardized bound collection during his lifetime.

Upon Lafreri’s death, approximately two-thirds of the copperplates passed to his nephew Claudio Duchetti, then to other members of the Duchetti family. Claudio Duchetti continued the exploitation of the plates, making minor retouches and frequently replacing Lafreri’s imprint with his own. The Duchetti (Claudio and Stefano) contributed to a relative standardization of production while maintaining the principle of compilations assembled to order. After the demise of the Duchetti, the plates were dispersed and taken up by other Roman publishers, notably Giovanni Orlandi (before 1590–after 1640), who issued new impressions from them in the early seventeenth century. The prolonged circulation of these plates ensured the dissemination and lasting significance of this fundamental corpus of Roman printmaking.

A unique opportunity to acquire a fine example from the early Lafreri School.!
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Reference: Hülsen 36a