engraving
22 x 17.3 cm (plate); 26.4 x 20 cm (sheet)
Undescribed
A good impression, some wiping marks still visible, there is some slight discolouration to the paper, the platemark at the lower edge is backed (due to the paper being very thing), there are some flattened creases in the upper right edge

This rare anonymous engraving copies, in reverse, a painting by the Ferrarese artist Carlo Bononi (1569-1632) now in the Collezione Lauro, Bologna. [1] The print largely follows the painting, but differs in the books that the winged figure holds; both the shape of the books differs to that of the painting, as well as their content. In the painting the books contain musical sheets, while in the print the upper book contains a drawing or engraving. Scattered around the figure representing the arts are musical instruments as well as object representing the figural arts such as an artist’s palette and a marble or plaster head.

[1] See:
https://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/scheda/opera/59296/Bononi%20Carlo%2C%20Genio%20delle%20Arti [accessed 20 October 2025] and D. Benati and P. Giordani, Stanze bolognesi. La collezione Lauro, 1994, pp. 75-76, note 28.