Agostino Veneziano, Portrait No 21

Drypoint on paper 310 mm x 212 mm
Very fine print.
Apud Card. Caesium 
(Ink trace on the back, some graphite in the eyes)


Plate XXI from 


Inlustrium Viror. ut exstant in Urbe expressi vultus









Aquiles Estaço, Inlustrium Viror. ut exstant in Urbe expressi vultus, Roma, 1569
The Portuguese humanist Aquiles Estaço (Achille Stazio) (1524 - 1581) was the author of one of the first collections dedicated to ancient iconography. The volume contains 52 tables related to as many herm-portraits in marble, mostly ancient, depicting famous characters on a neutral background and shaded. The Latin caption shows the name of the collection. Despite having no signature, it is generally believed that the plates and the title page are the work of the engraver Agostino Musi, called Agostino Veneziano (1490 circa - post 1536).
Chalcographic illustrations, xylographate initials, letter heads. On the title page, the editor Antonio Lafréry (1512 - 1577), one of the most important Roman printers.
https://mostre.sba.unifi.it/tesori-inesplorati/it/132/inlustrium-viror_-ut-exstant-in-urbe-expressi-vultus