Author: Perrier, François (1594-1649)
Title: [Antique etching/ets] The Scythian Slave, or the Arrotino ['Segmenta nobilium signorum et statuarum.', 1638]/De Scyfische slaag, ofwel Arrotino (blade-sharpener, messenslijper).
Description: The statue of the so-called Scythian slave, now in Florence at the Uffizi. The naked man is sharpening a knife and therefore he is also known as the Arrotino. Signed and numbered on the pedestal: 17/FP B, FP monogrammed and the B stands for Bergognone. Instead of a flat wall, the artist chose to represent some excerpts of a garden as background. From 'Segmenta Nobiliarum Signorum et Statuarum', a series of 101 etched plates (frontispiece and 100 illustrations) representing statues from Rome, first published in Rome in 1638, and reprinted five times before the end of the seventeenth century. On verso, on the bottom right corner collector's mark: P in black (stencilled?). Etching on laid paper; plate mark: 192 x 165 mm, total: 293 x 179 mm; some soiling on the external margins, top right corner folded in, otherwise very nice impression. Le Blanc 38-137.

Keywords: Anatomy|Crafts|Design|History|Italy|Nude|Rome|sculpture|Slavery and Colonialism