Sardanapalus in the Bath
Johann Theodor de Bry, German, 1561 - 1623
after Maarten de Vos, Flemish, 1532 - 1603
late 16th century
Engraving on laid paper
Sheet: 6 1/2 × 6 1/2 in. (16.5 × 16.5 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Class of 1935 Memorial Fund
PR.2002.50
Geography
Place Made: Germany, Europe
Period
1400-1600
Object Name
Research Area
Not on view
Inscriptions
Inscribed, in plate, lower left: Iohan Theodore; inscribed, in plate, lower right: de Bry excudabat.
Label
The prolific engraver and publisher Theodor de Bry created many designs for tazze and other fine metalwork that bridge the boundaries between the past and the present in both subject and decoration. The form of a tazza, or wide, shallow cup on a foot, was also a form associated with Antiquity. While the present print is not identified as a design for a tazza, the wide, ornate border populated with grotesques surrounding a central scene is similar to both de Bry’s other designs and contemporary tazze. At the center of this design is Sardanapalus, a mythological Assyrian king known for his decadence who committed suicide with all his treasures rather than be captured. Like the subjects of other tazze, this story would both titillate and caution the viewer.
From the 2024 exhibition Living with Sculpture: Presence and Power in Europe, 1400–1750, curated by Elizabeth Rice Mattison, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art, and Ashley B. Offill, Curator of Collections
Course History
GERM 10, Germany and the East, Yuliya Komska, Winter 2013
Exhibition History
Living with Sculpture: Presence and Power in Europe, 1400–1750, Citrin Family Gallery and Engles Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 23, 2024–March 22, 2025.
Publication History
Schulman/Bullard, Catalogue 7, Fall 2002, no. 11, illustrated back cover.
Provenance
Susan Schulman Printseller, New York, New York; sold to present collection, 2002.
Catalogue Raisonne
Hollstein IV, 29 only state
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