Oraculum Anachoreticum

La serie denominata Oraculum Anachoreticum consiste di 26 rami (compreso il frontespizio) raffiguranti eremiti, tutti disegnati da Martin De Vos e incisi dai fratelli Jan e Raphael Sadeler a Venezia. L’opera venne ideata per essere presentata a Papa Clemente VIII, al quale venne anche dedicata, nell’estate del 1600, quando i Sadeler si recarono a Roma in occasione dell’anno giubilare. La famiglia Sadeler fu la più grande e probabilmente più nota tra le dinastie di incisori fiamminghi che predominarono, nell’Europa settentrionale, nei secoli XVI, XVII e seguenti, sia come artisti che editori. Johannes I (Jan) Sadeler (Bruxelles 1550 – Venezia 1600) e Raphael I Sadeler (Anversa 1561 - Monaco di Baviera, 1628) si trasferirono a Venezia con il resto della famiglia nel 1595, come spiega bene Christopher Witcombe nel suo saggio su Privilegio a Venezia e Roma nel Rinascimento: “In 1595, in the wake of the bankruptcy of the Wilhelm's court in Munich, Jan and Raphael, accompanied by Aegidius, together with Jan's son, Justus, moved to Italy and set up shop in Venice. Aegidius stayed in Venice until 1598, when he was summoned to Prague, where he became imperial engraver to the court of Emperor Rudolf II, and where he died in 1629. In 1600, two years after Aegidius's departure, Jan died. Raphael remained in Venice for a few years after his brother's death, but probably in 1604 he returned to Munich where he died in 1632. Justus (or Jodocus), stayed on in Venice after the death of his father and the departures of his uncle and cousin, and ran the family's print publishing business until his death, in Leiden, while on a trip in the company of the Venetian ambassador to Holland, in October 1620 […]. Jan and Raphael had continued to issue prints jointly after their move to Venice. As they had done previously, they divided up between them the engraving of sets of prints. For example, in 1597 they published a set of six prints of allegorical figures, Schema seu speculum principum, where Jan engraved the title-page and the first two plates, and Raphael the remaining three. The engravings, all after designs by Giovanni Stradano, were printed at the Sadeler's shop in Venice ("Venetijs ex ofici Sadelery"). […] Numerous prints issued by the Sadelers after 1598 continue to carry notice of the imperial privilegio but it is now frequently combined with the papal privilegio. Notice of the privilegio can be found on prints engraved by Jan and Raphael, as well as on those by Aegidius. After 1600, it also appears on prints by Justus. Perhaps the first item issued by the Sadelers with the new papal privilegio was a set of fifty-one prints (including the title-page) treating once again the subject of hermits entitled Trophaeum Vitae Solitariae. Based on designs by Martin de Vos, twenty-five of the plates were engraved by Jan and twenty-five by Raphael. The title-page engraved by Raphael ("Raphael Sadeler Scalpsit Venetijs 1598"), carries a dedication by "Ioann. et Raphael Sadeleri fratres" to Cardinal Enrico Gaetano. Two years later, in 1600, the brothers produced another book of twenty-five prints of hermits called Oraculum Anachoreticum. This time, Jan engraved the title-page ("Ioã Sadeler scalpsit Venetijs") and thirteen plates, and Raphael another thirteen, all after designs by Martin de Vos. Altogether Jan and Raphael together produced five books devoted to hermits (four of male her- mits, one of female), all after designs by Martin de Vos: Sylvae Sacrae; Solitudo Sive Vitae Patrum Eremicolarum; Trophaeum Vitae Solitariae; Oraculum Anachoreticum; and Solitudo Sive Vitae Foeminarum Anachoritarum. Four of the books were known to Giovanni Baglione, who commented on them with admiration. The plate following the title-page of the Oraculum Anachoreticum was devoted to a fifteen-line dedication by the brothers ("Ioh. et Raph. Sadelerii FS") to Clement VIII. It is very likely that the Oraculum Anachoreticum was among those prin. The series called Oraculum Anachoreticum consists of 26 engravings (including the frontispiece) depicting hermits, all designed by Martin De Vos and engraved by the brothers Jan and Raphael Sadeler in Venice. The work was conceived to be presented to Pope Clement VIII, to whom it was also dedicated, in the summer of 1600, when the Sadelers traveled to Rome for the Jubilee year. The Sadeler Family was the largest and probably best known of the dynasties of Flemish engravers who predominated, in northern Europe, in the 16th, 17th and following centuries, both as artists and publishers. Johannes I (Jan) Sadeler (Brussels 1550 - Venice 1600) and Raphael I Sadeler (Antwerp 1561 - Munich 1628) moved to Venice with the rest of the family in 1595, as Christopher Witcombe explains well in his essay on Privilege in Venice and Rome in the Renaissance: “In 1595, in the wake of the bankruptcy of the Wilhelm's court in Munich, Jan and Raphael, accompanied by Aegidius, together with Jan's son, Justus, moved to Italy and set up shop in Venice. Aegidius stayed in Venice until 1598, when he was summoned to Prague, where he became imperial engraver to the court of Emperor Rudolf II, and where he died in 1629. In 1600, two years after Aegidius's departure, Jan died. Raphael remained in Venice for a few years after his brother's death, but probably in 1604 he returned to Munich where he died in 1632. Justus (or Jodocus), stayed on in Venice after the death of his father and the departures of his uncle and cousin, and ran the family's print publishing business until his death, in Leiden, while on a trip in the company of the Venetian ambassador to Holland, in October 1620 […]. Jan and Raphael had continued to issue prints jointly after their move to Venice. As they had done previously, they divided up between them the engraving of sets of prints. For example, in 1597 they published a set of six prints of allegorical figures, Schema seu speculum principum, where Jan engraved the title-page and the first two plates, and Raphael the remaining three. The engravings, all after designs by Giovanni Stradano, were printed at the Sadeler's shop in Venice ("Venetijs ex ofici Sadelery"). […] Numerous prints issued by the Sadelers after 1598 continue to carry notice of the imperial privilegio but it is now frequently combined with the papal privilegio. Notice of the privilegio can be found on prints engraved by Jan and Raphael, as well as on those by Aegidius. After 1600, it also appears on prints by Justus. Perhaps the first item issued by the Sadelers with the new papal privilegio was a set of fifty-one prints (including the title-page) treating once again the subject of hermits entitled Trophaeum Vitae Solitariae. Based on designs by Martin de Vos, twenty-five of the plates were engraved by Jan and twenty-five by Raphael. The title-page engraved by Raphael ("Raphael Sadeler Scalpsit Venetijs 1598"), carries a dedication by "Ioann. et Raphael Sadeleri fratres" to Cardinal Enrico Gaetano. Two years later, in 1600, the brothers produced another book of twenty-five prints of hermits called Oraculum Anachoreticum. This time, Jan engraved the title-page ("Ioã Sadeler scalpsit Venetijs") and thirteen plates, and Raphael another thirteen, all after designs by Martin de Vos. Altogether Jan and Raphael together produced five books devoted to hermits (four of male her- mits, one of female), all after designs by Martin de Vos: Sylvae Sacrae; Solitudo Sive Vitae Patrum Eremicolarum; Trophaeum Vitae Solitariae; Oraculum Anachoreticum; and Solitudo Sive Vitae Foeminarum Anachoritarum. Four of the books were known to Giovanni Baglione, who commented on them with admiration. The plate following the title-page of the Oraculum Anachoreticum was devoted to a fifteen-line dedication by the brothers ("Ioh. et Raph. Sadelerii FS") to Clement VIII. It is very likely that the Oraculum Anachoreticum was among those prints that Jan took to Rome in the summer of. Cfr.