Artist: Niccolò Circignani, (called "Il Pomarancio", Italian, c. 1530–1597), after.
Engraver: Giovanni Battista Cavalieri (Italian, 1525–1601).
Title: The Martyrdom of John Forest, and Three Benedictine Abbots (Plate 29 from Ecclesiae Anglicanae Trophaea).
Inscriptions: Latin text block in the lower margin. Page number “29” engraved in the lower right corner.
Dimensions: Sheet 9 1/2" x 8".
Edition: First edition, early state (1584).
Date: 1584.
Materials and Techniques: Etching on laid paper.
Watermark: Partially visible contemporary 16th-century Italian watermark situated closer to the center of the sheet, reconstructible as an anchor inscribed within a circle, consistent with Briquet, types popular among Roman papermakers circa 1580s. Briquet, Les Filigranes, vol. 1, p. 42-44.
Condition: wear, abrasion, lost corner. The ink impression remains crisp with dark, well-preserved contrast.
Bibliographic References: Universal Short Title Catalogue (USTC) ref. no. 821297.
Part of: Ecclesiae Anglicanae Trophaea siue Sanctorum Martyrum, qui pro Christiana Catholicaeq. fidei tutione... mortem in Anglia subierunt, Rome, 1584.
Museums, Libraries and Auctions: The British Museum 1973,0512.3.29.
Art Movements, Periods and Schools: Italian School XVI C.
Note: The scene depicts the execution of Franciscan friar John Forest (A), burned alive in 1538 using a famous wooden statue of a saint as firewood. It also visualizes the drawing and quartering of Catholic doctors Powell, Fetherston, and Abel (B), and the hanging of Benedictine martyrs (C).
Engraver: Giovanni Battista Cavalieri (Italian, 1525–1601).
Title: The Martyrdom of John Forest, and Three Benedictine Abbots (Plate 29 from Ecclesiae Anglicanae Trophaea).
Inscriptions: Latin text block in the lower margin. Page number “29” engraved in the lower right corner.
Dimensions: Sheet 9 1/2" x 8".
Edition: First edition, early state (1584).
Date: 1584.
Materials and Techniques: Etching on laid paper.
Watermark: Partially visible contemporary 16th-century Italian watermark situated closer to the center of the sheet, reconstructible as an anchor inscribed within a circle, consistent with Briquet, types popular among Roman papermakers circa 1580s. Briquet, Les Filigranes, vol. 1, p. 42-44.
Condition: wear, abrasion, lost corner. The ink impression remains crisp with dark, well-preserved contrast.
Bibliographic References: Universal Short Title Catalogue (USTC) ref. no. 821297.
Part of: Ecclesiae Anglicanae Trophaea siue Sanctorum Martyrum, qui pro Christiana Catholicaeq. fidei tutione... mortem in Anglia subierunt, Rome, 1584.
Museums, Libraries and Auctions: The British Museum 1973,0512.3.29.
Art Movements, Periods and Schools: Italian School XVI C.
Note: The scene depicts the execution of Franciscan friar John Forest (A), burned alive in 1538 using a famous wooden statue of a saint as firewood. It also visualizes the drawing and quartering of Catholic doctors Powell, Fetherston, and Abel (B), and the hanging of Benedictine martyrs (C).
The British Museum’s catalog attribution of the corresponding plate to the 1608 edition could be fully applicable to our sheet.
Acknowledgement: This entry incorporates text from online sources and the catalog entry of a similar item in the British Museum collection.
Acknowledgement: This entry incorporates text from online sources and the catalog entry of a similar item in the British Museum collection.