'Inverno' (Winter) (after Giuseppe Zais)
Giovanni Volpato (Angarano 1740 - Rome 1803)
Category
Art / Prints
Date
circa 1764
Materials
Etching on paper
Measurements
510 x 600 mm
Collection
Calke Abbey, Derbyshire
NT 286613.1
Summary
Etching, 'Inverno' (Winter) (after Giuseppe Zais) by Giovanni Volpato (Angarano 1740 - Rome 1803), circa 1764. Entitled 'Inverno', one of the four seasons after Zuccarelli and this one after Zais, with a four-line verse: 'A membra giovanil serve di gioco / Scherzar anco di verno in mezza al gielo / Ma fugge dal rigor di freddo cielo / L'eta`canuta, e si ritira al foco'. A woman, Venus, dances in the countryside whilst watched by men and Cupid, who lies with his sheath of arrows deside him. Armour lies scattered on the ground and in the distance figures dance along a lakeside path, with Vulcan making armour at an anvil at the right.
Provenance
Acquired with Calke Abbey's contents, with the aid of a grant provided by the National Heritage Memorial Fund, thanks to a special allocation of money from the Government and transferred in lieu of tax on the estate of Charles Jenney Harpur-Crewe (1917 - 1981) to the National Trust with the house that was given by Henry Jenney Harpur-Crewe (1921- 1991) in 1984
Credit line
Calke Abbey, The Harpur-Crewe Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
A membra giovanil serve di gioco Scherzar anco di verno in mezza al gielo Ma fugge dal rigor di freddo cielo L'eta`canuta, e si ritira al foco Bottom left and right: with 'Zuccarelli pinx. / Volpato Scul. appo. Wagner Venezia C.P.E.S.'
Makers and roles
Giovanni Volpato (Angarano 1740 - Rome 1803), engraver (printmaker) Giuseppe Zais (Forno di Canale 1709 - Treviso 1781), artist Joseph Wagner (1706 - Venice 1780), engraver and publisher
References
Marini 1988 Giorgio Marini, Giovanni Volpato 1735-1803, Bassano, Ghedina & Tassotti, 1988, 38