Rocky Landscape with Trees and Temple Ruins, a drawing by Giulio Parigi

Dimensions : 7’’ x 11 3/4" (177 x 297 mm) - Framed: 15 3/8’’ x 19 ½’’ (39 x 49.5 cm)
Handwritten inscription on recto lower left: "Di Flaminio Giuletto/ Venari Saturn [ale?]", and illegible collection mark.
Cherry wood frame decorated with pinecone scales - Northern Italy, early 19th century
Price on request

We would like to thank Carolina Trupiano Kowalczyk for confirming the attribution of this drawing to Giulio Parigi after direct examination of the artwork. Her study of the drawing (in Italian), on which this presentation is based, is available on request.
This Rocky Landscape with Trees and the Ruins of a Temple is a drawing by Giulio Parigi, an eclectic and prolific artist of the Medici court. An engraver, architect, furniture and jewelry designer and scenographer, he was also the master of a renowned academy, where he taught mechanics, perspective, architecture, and landscape painting.
This drawing is a new addition to the artist's catalog. It demonstrates the extraordinary temperament of this artist, who offers us here an original synthesis between scenic fantasy and the influence of the imaginary world created by Nordic artists, freely inspired by the real landscape of Tivoli.

1. Giulio Parigi, a multi-talented artist at the heart of the artistic life of his time

Giulio Parigi was born in Florence on April 6, 1571. He was the son of Alfonso di Santi Parigi, originally from Prato, and Alessandra di Berto Fiammeri. Trained by his architect father and great-uncle Bartolomeo Ammannati, he was quickly integrated into the artistic milieu of the court, working from an early age under the direction of Bernardo Buontalenti, with whom he later collaborated as decorator and draftsman. In 1594, he enrolled at the Academy of Drawing as a "painter"; in 1597, he was pensioned by the Grand Ducal Court.

From 1613, Giulio Parigi worked intensively as a civil engineer for the Grand Duke, which led him to Rome in 1616. On his return to Florence, Parigi won the competition launched by Cosimo II for the enlargement of the Pitti palace; he began by building the "Grotticina di Vulcano" in the Boboli gardens (1617) and laid the foundation stone for the palace's north wing on May 29, 1620. Parigi remained in charge of the works until 1633, when he was succeeded by his son Alfonso, who continued the enlargement according to his father's instructions.

In the graphic output of Giulio Parigi and the engravers of his entourage, we find many illustrations of festivities and theatrical performances at the Medici court, testifying to the pre-eminence of the court over Florentine public life. As an architect and a scenographer, an engraver and a draughtsman, Giulio Parigi is one of the most convincing examples of the relationship between these ephemeral creations linked to the theater or grand festivities and the Mannerist language, strongly influenced by the Nordic currents present in the artistic culture of grand-ducal Florence.
With the formation of the famous Accademia, Giulio Parigi gathered around him a large number of pupils: in addition to Jacques Callot (a landscape painter and engraver), we can cite his sons Alfonso (an architect, engineer, scenographer and engraver) and Andrea (an engineer, excellent landscape painter and skilful inventor of fireworks), Antonio Cantagallina (a master of perspective), and his brother Giovan Francesco (a landscape painter and master of fortifications), and artists such as Giovanni da S. Giovanni and, for a time, Stefano della Bella, Baccio del Bianco or Agostino Tassi.

Giulio died in Florence on July 13, 1635, and was buried in the chapel of the church of S. Felice in Piazza, which he had designed.

2. Subject and identification of our drawing

The well-preserved sheet shows a forest of trees with complex, gnarled trunks, whose sparse foliage is evoked by oblique and parallel hatching. The ground is studded with boulders, also shaped by hatching. The composition is closed on the left by a rocky entablature running along the edge. This scenographic expedient is characteristic of stage decors intended for theatrical performances. On the right a trunk curves out, with a typically Nordic physiognomy.

The space is skilfully structured in several planes: from the first, set in a contrasting chiaroscuro, we pass to a luminous clearing, beyond which rise rocky mounds with sharp profiles, drawn with a single stroke of the pen in brown ink, which punctuate the landscape and give a vibrant sense of movement. Above the rocks rise the ruins of an ancient temple, whose six columns in the cella indicate its original round shape.

This temple is loosely based on that of the Sibyl (or Vesta) at Tivoli, situated above the rocky spur adjoining the ancient acropolis of Tibur overlooking the vast Aniene valley. The Flemish artists Paul Bril (1554-1626) and Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625) were the first to be fascinated by the power and mystery of this place, where the natural elements, impetuous and picturesque, freely blend into the landscape.

In the clearing in lower right foreground, with fine, angular calligraphy executed with a pen, the author leaves the following inscription: "Di Flaminio Giuletto/ Venari Saturn [ale?]". While the second part, difficult to decipher, could refer to a theatrical performance (perhaps executed at the time of the winter festivities known as Saturnalia?), the first part is a clear reference to Giulio's northern style of depicting landscapes, which, by distinguishing him from his Florentine contemporaries, had earned him the nickname "Flemish".

In all likelihood, our sheet was executed, probably around 1615, during a session at the Accademia, as a test of skill on a naturalist theme that adhered to the taste for fantasy transposed into the real world in using a modern artistic language, inspired by Nordic painters. It is possible that this drawing was intended for engraving, as evidenced by the parallel hatching of the cloud-sprinkled sky.

Our drawing can be compared with two others by the artist in the Uffizi. In the Tuscan Landscape, we find the characteristic way of surrounding the landscape with elements drawn on the sides, the use of broad parallel strokes to render shadows, while in the background the village is lightly evoked with pen.

In the Landscape with a Farm, we find the same treatment of interlaced shrubs, marked by nervous feather strokes, while their foliage is lightly sketched. As in our drawing, the ground is uneven, and a village with angular outlines drawn with a light pen appears in the background.

3. Framing

Our drawing comes in a cherrywood frame with a highly original pinecone scale decoration. Dating from the early 19th century, it probably originates from northern Italy.