The Fall of the Giants published 1647
Chiaroscuro woodcut from twelve blocks on four sheets | 93.5 x 67.0 cm (whole object) | RCIN 807713
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A chiaroscuro woodcut of the Fall of the Giants. Jupiter is depicted on an eagle at upper centre casting his thunderbolt onto the muscular giants below.
Bartolomeo Coriolano and Guido Reni collaborated on 24 chiaroscuro woodcuts, mostly in the last years of the artist's life when Reni was in financial difficulties (see RCIN 903461 for a preparatory drawing by Reni for this woodcut). The Fall of the Giants was the most ambitious of these prints, published first in 1638; three years later Coriolano cut another set of blocks to produce a replica of the print, later issuing a reprint of that set with the date 1647. Consul Joseph Smith’s library, purchased by George III in 1762, included an album of prints by and after Reni which probably contained this woodcut.Provenance
Probably purchased by George III from Consul Joseph Smith, 1762
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Creator(s)
(wood cutter)Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Chiaroscuro woodcut from twelve blocks on four sheets
Measurements
93.5 x 67.0 cm (whole object)
Category
Object type(s)