Juste de Juste (Giovanni di Giusto Antonio Betti, dit) (c. 1505-c. 1559)

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Estimation :
10000 - 12000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 57 200EUR
Juste de Juste (Giovanni di Giusto Antonio Betti, dit) (c. 1505-c. 1559)
Pyramid of six men. 1543. Etching. Sheet: 209 x 280 mm. Zerner 1. A very fine and fresh proof on thin beige laid paper with a fragment of watermark at the lower right edge (wing?), the traces of copper polishing clearly visible. Slight tear to the right of the upper left corner. Small thinning above the signature (visible by transparency). Horizontal drying fold in the middle. Four small remnants of gummed kraft at the edges of the folio on the reverse. Very rare. The work of "a skilled draftsman and a great original, capable of affirming the impossible with conviction" (H. Zerner, École de Fontainebleau, Gravures, Paris, Arts et Métiers graphiques, 1969, p. XXXV), this pyramid is part of a group of 17 sculptural engravings, including five human pyramids, true pieces of bravery, commonly attributed today to Juste de Juste. This artist was born in Tours to a family of Florentine origin, the Betti, who settled in France in 1504 and were naturalized in 1513 under the name Juste. His father and uncles were royal sculptors, specializing in tombs. In the 1530s, he participated in the first school of Fontainebleau, in the team of Rosso and then Primaticcio, working in the Francis I gallery and in other parts of the castle (1537-1540) as a sculptor. Francis I commissioned him to create marble sculptures of Hercules and Leda and appointed him "King's Sculptor" in 1553. It should be noted that the monogram seen on the engravings is sometimes also interpreted as that of the engraver Jean Viset, documented in 1536 in Fontainebleau.
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