Author: Carlo Maratta (1625-1713) after Gerard de Lairesse (1641-1711)
Title: [Antique print, engraving] Allegory on the glory of Gerard de Lairesse [Allegorie a la Gloire de Gerard Lairesse]/Allegorie over Gerard de Lairesse, published 1791.
Description: Portrait of Gérard de Lairesse, bust directed to the left, head slightly turned to face the viewer, in an oval on a pedestal, surrounded by allegorical figures: an angel lifting a curtain at the top left; Athena on the right, wearing armour and holding a pike, and a female figure, most likely the personification of History, with a canvas or a marble slab in front of her, and her left hand resting on a globe crowned by a snake biting its own tail (ouroboros) at the bottom right; two putti in the bottom left corner; after a design by Carlo Maratta.The portrait in the oval is after the self-portrait by de Lairesse at the Uffizi.Inscribed below: Allegorie a la Gloire de Gerard Lairesse.... Date of publishing 1791. Engraving on thick laid paper with some margins; plate mark: 296 x 223 mm, total: 383 x 279 mm; in good condition. Van Someren 3127.

Keywords: Allegories|Archeology|Art history|Artist portraits|Mythology|Portraits|Women