Eternity
Francesco Villamena, Italian, 1564/66 - 1624
1591
Engraving on paper
Sheet: 8 × 5 9/16 in. (20.3 × 14.1 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through a gift from Jane and W. David Dance, Class of 1940
PR.2002.64.2
Portfolio / Series Title
La pompa funerale fatta dall'Ill.mo & Rev.mo S.R. Cardinale Montalto nella trasposizione dell'ossa di papa Sisto il quinto scritta & dichiarata da Baldo Catani
Geography
Place Made: Italy, Europe
Period
1400-1600
Object Name
Research Area
On view
Inscriptions
Inscribed, in plate, lower left: Ioseph Arpinas, Inu:; signed, in plate, lower right: F. Vill'amana
Label
After the death of Pope Sixtus V in 1590, a grand ceremony was staged for his burial the following year in the Roman church of Santa Maria Maggiore. Temporary sculptures and architecture were designed for these festivities and made out of materials such as plaster and wood. Ephemeral sculpture played an important role in activating urban settings through its part in lavish, multisensory celebrations. This print, taken from the book that documented the grandiose procession, endures as a lasting record of sculpture that was destroyed soon after it was made. In addition to architectural frames, allegorical figures such as Eternity reminded viewers of the virtues of Sixtus’s reign.
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
History 42.01, Women's Gender, and Sexuality Studies 22.01, Gender & European Society, Patrick Meehan, Spring 2024
History 96.39, Saints and Relics, Cecilia Gaposchkin, Spring 2024
Italian 1.01, Introductory Italian I, Noemi Perego, Spring 2024
Italian 11.01, Intensive Italian, Floriana Ciniglia, Spring 2024
Italian 2.01, Introductory Italian II, Floriana Ciniglia, Spring 2024
Italian 3.01, Introductory Italian III, Tania Convertini, Spring 2024
Italian 3.02, Introductory Italian III, Giorgio Alberti, Spring 2024
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.
Provenance
Antichita, Novara, Italy; sold to present collection, 2002.
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