Active in Padua and Venice between 1564 and 1598

Etching : 224 x 187 mm.; 8 7/8 x 7 3/8 inches

Watermark:Sea-Siren in Circle with Six-Sided Star (Heawood 3800). Heawood dates 1562, Venice.

Notes:

1. A strong, early and rare impression of this portrait of the Prince of Orange with his Coat of Arms below. In this dramatic depiction, the rider and his horse both stare fiercely into the eyes of the onlooker. The upright, formal position of the prince and the well-trained stance of the horse, their disciplined grace and elegance, all bespeak of a well- established and powerful sixteenth- century noble family.

2. Luca Bertelli was a printmaker, book and print dealer and publisher. He published prints by Agostino Carracci, Giacomo Franco and Martino Rota as well as after Michelangelo, Veronese, Titian, Domenico Campagnola, Raphael, Farinati and Clovio. In many cases, we cannot be sure of the nature or participation of Bertelli himself as a printmaker. The line between financial and working relationships between Bertelli and his projects is often unclear. Bury (Michael Bury The Print in Italy 1550-1620, The British Museum Press, 2001) has analysed many of these (with respect to Bertelli directly, see Bury: pp. 69, 74-77, 109, 115, 170-174, 179, 222 and no. 64). An example of the complications of attribtion questions concerns Agostino Carracci’s (1557-1602) very large engraving on two sheets (451 x 592 mm. and 459 x 592 mm.) of 1582: The Martyrdom of Saint Giustina of Padua after a Paolo Veronese painting in the church of Santa Giustina in Padua. The inscription below this work is: ..Addictissimi Lucus Bertullus, et socius. It would be difficult to imagine that Agostino Carricci stayed in Bertelli’s workshop long enough to have alone completed this enormous project. How much did Bertelli himself contribute to the actual engraving? Who were the partners (socius) involved and what involvement did they have? Concerning this specific work, see: Diane DeGrazia Bohlin Prints and Related Drawings by the Carracci Family, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1979: no. 105, pp.204-206.