AN UNDESCRIBED VERSION OF LANDSCAPE WITH

A HORSEMAN AND HIS GROOM AFTER TITIAN

z O LTÁ N k Á R PÁT I

Among the small group of prints ascribed to Titian byAdamBartsch,Landscape with aHorseman and

his Groom has been the focus of interest for several decades (fig. 2).1 Although it has been generally

accepted that the etching was not executed by the Venetianmaster himself, identification of the print-

maker still remains uncertain. Refuting the unconvincing attribution to Marco Angolo del Moro

proposed byMaria Catelli Isola,2 Gianvittorio Dillon associated the work with themanner of Battista

Franco on the basis of its similarity to the background landscape elements of hisMoses DrawingWater

from the Rock (fig. 3).3 On the other hand, Dillon also noted that the landscape is uncharacteristic

of Franco and must be a later addition to the composition. David Landau agreed with Dillon’s

conclusion but stressed that the attribution to Franco should only be accepted with reservations.4

TheMuseum of Fine Arts, Budapest preserves a unique version ofLandscape with aHorseman and

his Groom (fig. 1).5 Corresponding in almost all details to the print reproduced in The Illustrated

Bartsch, the reverse direction and nearly identical dimensions suggest that one etchingmust be a copy

of the other.6 The most significant difference that can be recognised at first glance is the handling of

the sky: while it is represented in the Bartsch version as dark and stormy, and is executed with densely

running parallel strokes completely filling the lower part of the sky, the upper part of the Budapest

etching is much more open, and the unmarked areas result in an airy and light atmosphere. In fact,

the overall effect of the Budapest print is more virtuoso; its lines are free and delicate, and the forms

are articulated in a sketchy and spontaneous manner.

In contrast to the springy vitality of the Budapest impression, the etched lines of the Bartsch

version are more restrained, generally uniform in width and value, the hatching is more regular, the

handling of the needle less skilled, and, last but not least, several details are confusing. These defects

become plainly evident if one observes the small boat on the horizon, between the two tree trunks on

the left of the Budapest print, which vanishes among the less defined lines of the Bartsch version.

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In the latter, the folds of the groom’s mantle disappear in the dense shading, and the tail and mane of

the horse lose their decorative character. It can generally be said that the Bartsch version is more simple

and direct in its technique, which suggests the hand of a less talented printmaker. This is particularly

evident in the buildings of the background, the articulation of the foliage and the ripples of the stream.

The etcher of the Bartsch version does not make a distinction between the lower part of the sky and

the far end of the stream. All these characteristics strongly suggest that the Bartsch version must

be the later one, while the Budapest print represents the original invention.

The Budapest print, unpublished until today, is the only known impression of this version, and

therefore has considerable importance.Although theplate’s fate is not known, itwas presumably damaged

or lost before being printed in high numbers. It is very plausible that the Bartsch versionwas traced onto

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� . VENETIAN ETCHER, LANDSCAPE WITH A HORSEM AN AND HIS GROOM, CA . �55�–�56� ,

BUDAPEST, MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

a new plate directly from an original impression of the Budapest version. This hypothesis ismainly sup-

ported by its reverse direction, and also by that its outlines are identical with those of the Budapest

versionbut the executionof thedetails is notablydifferent.Theuniqueness of the etching is further proven

by the fact that later printed and drawn copies were made exclusively after the Bartsch version.7

The Titianesque origin of the landscape is evident and supported by the inscription of Ticianus

manu propria on the second state of the Bartsch version.8 On the other hand, no existing drawing by

themaster for the whole composition has survived. Only a small sketch of Alpine farm buildings with

a wooden tower, drawn by Titian in two autograph versions around 1512–1515, may be directly linked

with the background of Landscape with a Horseman and his Groom (fig. 4).9 The popularity of this

motif is proven by three contemporary copies of Titian’s drawing, and the fact that similar landscapes

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� . VENETIAN ETCHER , LANDSCAPE WITH A HORSEM AN AND HIS GR OOM, CA . �55�–�56� ,

NE W YORk, THE METR OPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

were disseminated by Domenico Campagnola, his most outstanding follower. Campagnola was the

most inventive mediator of the Venetian pastoral landscape, whose variations in drawings and wood-

cuts strongly influenced the next generation of printmakers in mid-sixteenth-century Veneto.

Battista Franco, for instance, regularly inserted Venetian landscape elements in his prints during

his final years in Venice, ca. 1552–1561.10 A good example is hisMadonna andChild with the Infant John

the Baptist,11 which includes a close variant of theAlpine buildings recorded in Titian’s above-mentioned

drawings. The appearance of Titianesque motifs in Landscape with a Horseman and his Groom is not

the only reason for its attribution to Franco, which is based primarily on the similarity of the group

of trees dominating the right side of the Bartsch version to Franco’sMoses Drawing Water from the

Rock.12 A close variant of this motif also appears in Franco’sAdoration of theMagi.13 The compositional

differences between genuine prints by Franco and the landscape etching under discussion, however,

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� . GIOVANNI BATTISTA FRANCO, MOSES DRAWING WATER FR OM THE R OCk, CA . �55� ,

BUDAPEST, MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

do not allow a secure attribution of Landscape with a Horseman and his Groom. The arrangement

of Franco’s prints is generally relief-like, built up from two distinct layers, a foreground with figures

and a background, resulting in a less sophisticated overall image.

Francowas primarily an engraver, but late in his career he preferred to use amixed technique, com-

bining the advantages of both etching and engraving, like many of his colleagues in the Veneto: Battista

Pittoni, Angiolo Falconetto, Giovanni Battista Fontana, as well as Battista Angolo del Moro and his

son Marco. The refined use of freely etched lines together with tightly hatched burin lines is charac-

teristic of Franco’s working method. First, he etched the composition broadly onto the plate, carefully

completing the figures and other important elements with a burin afterwards, but leaving the landscape

in pure etching. It is also convincingly suggested that many of his few pure etchings are intermediary

proofs which remained unfinished.14

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� . ATTRIBUTED TO TITIAN, ALPINE VILLAGE WITH LOVERS , CA . �5��–�5�5 ,

CHATSWORTH, COURTESY OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE CHATSWORTH SETTLEMENT

Another reason for the attribution of Landscape with a Horseman and his Groom to Franco wasDavid Landau’s identification of two small reversed letters in its lower right corner, which he iden-tified as “FV”.15 Landau suggested this may be a signature, which, taken together with the stylis-tic comparisons to landscape backgrounds, as well as to pure etchings by Franco, argued for thepossibility of the print being made by the master himself. On the other hand, Landau also notedthat it differs from Franco’s usual initials. In fact, there is no print by Franco which bears this sig-nature; he alternately used “BFVF” and “FPF” instead.16

Considering all these facts, we have no reason to attribute either version of Landscape with aHorseman and his Groom to Battista Franco. The flowing character of the Budapest version expli-citly suggests a work by an experienced etcher, and does not fit credibly in Franco’s printed œuvre,while the Bartsch version seems to be a contemporary copy. In the mid-1550s anonymous etchers,often unconvincingly identified as either Battista Angolo del Moro or his son Marco, eagerly repro-duced drawings by Titian.17 Although Landscape with a Horseman and his Groom does not resembleany of these prints, it must be a product from the same circle.

Zoltán Kárpáti is curator of Italian drawings and prints,Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest.

A U T H O R ’ S N O T E

I am indebted to Wendy Thompson and Matthias Wivel for their suggestions, as well as to Catherine Jenkins

for the information on the impression at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. I am also grateful

to Eszter Seres and Eszter Szász for proofreading my English.

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5 . WATERM ARk OF FIG . � . 6 . WATERM ARk OF FIG . � .

N O T E S

1 A. Bartsch, Le peintre-graveur, Vienna 1803–1821, XVI.101.8.2 M.Catelli Isola ed., Immagini da Tiziano: Stampe dal sec. XVI al sec. XIX dalle collezioni delGabinettoNazionaledelle Stampe, Rome 1976, no. 49.

3 BartschXVI.118.2; S.MasonRinaldi ed.,DaTiziano aElGreco: Per la storia delManierismo aVenezia 1540–1590,Milan 1981, under no. 151; see www.printsanddrawings.hu /search/prints/7978/.

4 J. Martineau and C. Hope eds., The Genius of Venice 1500–1600, London 1984, no. P44.5 Etching, 330×450 mm (sheet, trimmed close to platemark); watermark: arrow crossed under star (fig. 5);provenance:Nikolaus Esterházy (Lugt 1966),Museum of FineArts, Budapest, inv. no. 7978; see www.printsanddrawings.hu /search/prints/7033/.

6 H. Zerner ed., The Illustrated Bartsch 32,New York 1979, 152, no. 8. A fine impression of this rare print ispreserved at TheMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York (fig. 2): etching, first state of two, 330 × 440 mm(sheet, trimmed close to platemark); watermark: anchor in double outline in circle (fig. 6); inv. no. 62.602.419.

7 Valentin Lefèvre’s etching (U. Ruggeri,Valentin Lefèvre: Dipinti, disegni, incisioni,Manerba 2001, 219, no. I.28),an unpublished drawing in the StatensMuseum forKunst, Copenhagen (inv. no. KKS6741), and another drawingsold at the Galerie Bessenge (Berlin Auction, 25November 2011, lot 5868) seem to be copies after the Bartschversion.A pen-and-ink drawing in the BritishMuseum, London (inv. no. 1895,0915.831), related also to the engravingbut differing in several details, is probably a later imitation inspired by the print (www.britishmuseum.org/collection; accessed 8 January 2014).

8 It is also supported by the inscription of an etching in reverse by Claude Macé in the Recueil de 283 estampesgravées à l’eau forte d’après les dessins originaux […] queMons. Evrard Jabach de Cologne […] possédait, reproducingTitian’s original drawing ormost likely a later copy of the Bartsch version; see A. P. Robert-Dumesnil,Le Peintre-Graveur Français, Paris 1842, vol. 6, 257, no. 4.

9 Pen and brown ink, 149×210 mm, Courtesy of the Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement, Chatsworth,inv. no. 749A; see H. E. Wethey, Titian and His Drawings: With Reference to Giorgione and Some CloseContemporaries, Princeton (NJ) 1987, nos. 34 and 34a, figs. 70–73.

10 For a good summary on Franco’s printmaking activity with recent literature, see G. J. Van Der Sman, Le Sièclede Titien: Gravures vénitiennes de la Renaissance, Zwolle 2002, 136–41.

11 Bartsch XVI.129.29.12 Bartsch XVI.118.2.13 Bartsch XVI.154.2.14 S. W. Reed and R. Wallace, Italian Etchers of the Renaissance and Baroque, Boston, 1989, 57.15 Seenote4. It is important tonote,however, that the impressionatTheMetropolitanMuseumdoesnotbear these letters.16 Franco used the initials “BFVF” on Bartsch XVI.118.2; XVI.119.4; XVI.120.6; XVI.121.8; XVI.123.11;XVI.125.17, while the “FPF” monogram appears on Bartsch XVI.125.22; XVI.127.23 and 25; XVI.130.33;XVI.133, 42; XVI.134.44.

17 Bartsch XVI.99.5 – 100.7; for the related drawings, see Wethey 1987, nos. 45–47.

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