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The Four Evangelists, within a Border of Flowers, Birds, and Insects

A work made of tempera and gold paint on vellum, in paper montage with pen and brown ink and touches of watercolor.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of tempera and gold paint on vellum, in paper montage with pen and brown ink and touches of watercolor.

Date:

1572

Artist:

Circle of Giulio Clovio
Croatian, active Italy, 1498–1578

About this artwork

His contemporaries boasted that the illuminator Giorgio Giulio Clovio could paint the entire ’ Sistine Ceiling on a single page. This Michelangelesque miniature is actually a collage, and the coat of arms of Pope Gregory XIII suggests that it belonged to a manuscript housed in the Sistine Chapel. When Napoleon’s troops raided Rome in the late 18th century, sixty manuscripts were stolen from the pontifical chapel; many of these are known to have been cut up and reassembled.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Giorgio Giulio Clovio

Title

The Four Evangelists, within a Border of Flowers, Birds, and Insects

Place

Italy (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1572

Medium

Tempera and gold paint on vellum, in paper montage with pen and brown ink and touches of watercolor

Inscriptions

Inscribed verso on mount, in graphite: "Done for Pope Gregory the XIIIth / (Buoncampagna) / by / Don Giulio Clovio about 1572 or 1573 / called by Zani the Roscius by / others the Raffaelle of Miniature / see Zani (Roscoe) Vol. III. P. 81 ff. & IV. 2A / Clovio was the pupil of Girolamo de Libro & Giulio Romano. / Gregory was created 1572 and died 1583 / Clovio was born 1498 and died 1578. / aged 80. This is a companion to Nos. 87 & 89 / which wee done for a volume mentioned / by Baglione in his life of Clovio / 1642 as then preserved in teh Sacristy / of the Pontifical Chapel. / See also Bottari."

Dimensions

Overall: 36.7 × 25 cm (14 1/2 × 9 7/8 in.); Individual miniatures; Matthew: 7.8 × 7.5 cm (3 1/8 × 3 in.); Mark: 7.7 × 7.5 cm (3 1/16 × 3 in.); Luke: 7.8 × 7.8 cm (3 1/8 × 3 1/8 in.); John: 7.8 × 7.7 cm (3 1/8 × 3 1/16 in.); Border: 34.3 × 24.5 cm (13 9/16 × 9 11/16 in.)

Credit Line

Bequest of Katherine R. Loewenthal

Reference Number

1982.438

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/97442/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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