Angelo Campanella, Birth of Telefon, Original Etching on a Bas-Relief

“Nascita di Telefo, Bas-relief” (Birth of Telefo, Bas-relief) is a beautiful black and white burin and etching on paper, realized by the artist Angelo Campanella, after Bernardino Nocchi, as the inscriptions on plates on lower margins report “Bernardino Nocchi outlined / Angelo Campanella engraved Rome”. This original print is numbered on plate in Roman numerals on higher margin: “Tom II. /Tab. IX" and is a plate from the series "Illustrations of the selected Borghesiani monuments already existing in the Villa sul Pincio (..) now brought to light for the first time by the cav. Gio. Gherardo De Rossi and Stefano Piale under the guidance of Vincenzo Feoli", by Ennio Quirino Visconti, published by Stamperia de Romanis in Rome, 1821. This old master's original prints shows a beautiful piece of the Borghese's collection, a classical bas- relief representing the birth of Telefo, a Greek hero and myth with some light signs of the time with some sporadic minor stains along the higher margins, this wonderful etching has still preserved today his beauty and his fresh impression. Selected Monuments Borghesiani This collection in two volumes is a beautifully detailed catalog of classical sculptures collected by Prince Borghese (1730-1800) in his Villa on the Pincio. To these writings, which were available by the son of the illustrious archaeologist, the publishers added only a few illustrations relating to some minor monument of which copper had already been engraved. The engraved title-plate are signed by draughtsmen like Agostino Tofanelli, Stefano Tofanelli, Bernardino Nocchi, Domenico de Angelis or Teodoro Matteini, and by engravers Pietro Fontana Veneto, P. Vitali, Pietro Bettelini, Giovanni Folo Veneto, Giovanni Brunetti da Ravenna, Giovanni Ottaviani, Francesco Cecchini, Gio. Batta. Leonetti, Girolamo Carattoni, Domenico Cunego, Luigi Cunego, Alessandro Mochetti, Luigi Pizzi, Angelo Campanella or Giacomo Bossi. The Volume I shows ancient full-length statues, of the Borghese warrior by Agasias (two plates), Greek gods and heroes and Roman famous historical figures; the last two plates represents ancient Egyptian deities. There are plates representing ancient bas-reliefs, sarcophagi, of mythological subjects, the Borghese Vase, portrait busts, a vase on an altar, two statues of Love; and two modern statues, by Bernini (the Apollo and Daphne, and the David). «Très bel ouvrage» writes Brunet, «Grand ouvrage, le seul qui mérite, parmi ceux sur la villa Borgese, de figurer dans le chapitre aux Galeries et Collections» Vinet said, looking at this plate. Angelo Campanella (Rome, 1748 – 1815) Angelo Campanella was an Italian painter and engraver, learned his art under Giovanni Volpato. He engraved the statues of twelve apostles found in the church of St. John Lateran in Rome, and some of the plates for Gavin Hamilton's Schola Itálica including The Presentation in the Temple after Fra Bartolommeo. Other engravings include Christ with the Disciples at Emmaus, The Massacre of the Innocents, and Psyche and Cupid after the great Raphael. Bernardino Nocchi (Lucca, 1741 - Rome, 1812) Bernardino Nocchi moved to Rome in 1769 with his colleague Stefano Tofanelli, entering the school of Niccolò Lapiccola where he developed a baroque style with neoclassical suggestions. Bernardino Nocchi was noticed by Pope Pius VI, who in 1780 entrusted him with the painting of the Sacred Apostolic Palaces and then in 1785 with the Print Room of the Vatican Library. But he also works outside the capital, in Gubbio where in 1797 he realizes the transit of St. Joseph in the Church of San Secondo, in Spoleto, in Lucca and in Catania. Returning to Rome, Nocchi painted some of his best paintings: Prince Camillo Borghese in 1799, The apotheosis of Saint Prudenziana, Saint Novato and Saint Timothy in 1803 and Pius VII in 1807.