Giovanni Alto, Antiquarian

Francesco Villamena, Italian, 1564/66 - 1624

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1623

Engraving with red and black chalk on laid paper

working proof

Sheet: 15 1/16 × 20 5/8 in. (38.3 × 52.4 cm)

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Class of 1935 Memorial Fund and the Jean and Adolph Weil Jr. 1935 Fund

PR.997.29.2

Geography

Place Made: Italy, Europe

Period

1600-1800

Object Name

Print

Research Area

Print

On view

Inscriptions

Text across bottom in red chalk and on capital base in black chalk.

Label

A scholar of Antiquity, Giovanni Alto here presides over the city of Rome. He confidently gestures before his chest, as if pausing in the midst of giving a tour. A member of the Swiss Guard of the papacy, Alto also offered northern travelers tours of the ancient sites in Rome. Here featured in the Piazza del Quirinale, Alto stands alongside famous places such as the Horse Tamers sculpture to the left and the Palazzo Quirinale on the right. At his feet are the remains of the ancient world: architectural fragments, a sculpture’s foot, an animal skull. He appears ready to discuss the significance of each object. Through his study of Roman sculpture, Alto promoted his status among intellectuals and clergy in Rome.

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

ARTH 2, Introduction to the History of Art II, Joy Kenseth, Marlene Heck, Winter 2012

REL 30, Sacred Cities: Rome, Christopher MacEvitt, Spring 2013

REL 30, Sacred Cities: Rome, Christopher MacEvitt, Spring 2013

ARTH 86, Senior Seminar in Theory and Method, Mary Coffey, Winter 2012

REL 60, Reformations: Protestant and Catholic, Catherine Randall, Fall 2013

ARTH 2, Introduction to the History of Art II, Joy Kenseth, Mary Coffey, Winter 2014

ARTH 13, Rome: The Eternal City, Nicola Camerlenghi, Summer 2014

ITAL 23, Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Italian Literature and Culture, Nancy Canepa, Winter 2015

REL 30.1, Sacred Cities: Rome, Christopher MacEvitt, Winter 2019

ITAL 23, 17th and 18th Century Italian Literature, Nancy Canepa, Spring 2022

ITAL 1.01, Introductory Italian I, Giorgio Alberti, Fall 2022

ITAL 1.02, Introductory Italian I, Andrea Zoller, Fall 2022

ITAL 1.03, Introductory Italian I, Andrea Zoller, Fall 2022

Italian 1.02, Introductory Italian I, Andrea Zoller, Winter 2023

Italian 1.01, Introductory Italian I, Giorgio Alberti, Winter 2023

Italian 11.01, Intensive Italian, Giorgio Alberti, Winter 2023

Art History 7.05, Pompeii: Antique & Modern, Ada Cohen, Winter 2023

Italian 2.01, Introductory Italian II, Andrea Zoller, Winter 2023

Italian 2.02, Introductory Italian II, Matteo Gilebbi, Winter 2023

Italian 1.01, Introductory Italian 1, Giorgio Alberti, Fall 2023

Italian 1.02, Introductory Italian 1, Marco D'Angelo, Fall 2023

Italian 1.03, Introductory Italian 1, Floriana Ciniglia, Fall 2023

Italian 1.04, Introductory Italian 1, Noemi Perego, Fall 2023

Italian 2.01, Introductory Italian II, Marco D'Angelo, Fall 2023

Italian 1.01, Introductory Italian 1, Giorgio Alberti, Winter 2024

Italian 1.02, Introductory Italian 1, Floriana Ciniglia, Winter 2024

Italian 2.01, Introductory Italian II, Giorgio Alberti, Winter 2024

Italian 2.02, Introductory Italian II, Noemi Perego, Winter 2024

Religion 30.01, Sacred Cities, Christopher MacEvitt, Winter 2024

Religion 30.01, Sacred Cities, Christopher MacEvitt, Winter 2024

Studio Art 17.08, Digital Drawing, Karol Kawiaka, Winter 2024

Studio Art 17.08, Digital Drawing, Karol Kawiaka, Winter 2024

Geography 29.01, Global Cities, Erin Collins, Spring 2024

Geography 29.01, Global Cities, Erin Collins, Spring 2024

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

Antiquity in Rome from the Renaissance to the Age of Enlightenment: Selections from Dartmouth's Collections, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 7-September 9, 2001.

From Altarpiece to Portrait: Assembling a European Collection, Harrington Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 17-July 21, 2019.

Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 1, 2008.

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.

Remembrance of Things Past: Prints and Photographs from the Class of 1935 Memorial Fund, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 9-September 3, 2000.

The Simple Art: Printed Images in an Age of Magnificence, The Art Gallery, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, September 6-October 18, 2006; Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery, Keene State College, Keene, New Hampshire, November 9-December 10, 2006.

Publication History

T. Barton Thurber, "Survival and Revival of the Classical Tradition: Antiquity in Rome from the Baroque Era to the Age of Enlightenment." In T. Barton Thurber and Adrian W.B. Randolph, Antiquity in Rome from the Renaissance to the Age of Enlightenment: Selections from Dartmouth's Collections, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2001, pp. 45-46, ill. p. 45, listed p.72.

T. Barton Thurber, "Multiple personalities in Francesco Villamena's portrait print of Giovanni Alto dedicated to Cassiano dal Pozzo", Word & Image, A Journal of Verbal/Visual Enquiry, Volume 19, Numbers 1 & 2, January-June 2003, Oxon, United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis Limited, 2003, pp. 100-114, ill, p. 105.

Patricia Emison, The Simple Art: Printed Images in an Age of Magnificence, Durham, New Hampshire: The Art Gallery, University of New Hampshire, 2006, no. 56, p.84-85.

T. Barton Thurber, European Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2008, p.135, ill., no. 77.

Provenance

Hill-Stone, Inc. New York, New York; sold to present collection, 1997.

Catalogue Raisonne

Nagler 8; Kuhn-Hattenhauer, p. 137; Le Blanc 2

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