Fall of the Giants, ca. 1530s–40s
Attributed to Girolamo Fagiuoli (Italian, active Bologna by 1539, died 1574), after Perino del Vaga (Italian, 1501–1547)
Engraving; plate 13 3/8 x 22 3/8 in. (34 x 56.8 cm)
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949 (49.95.8)
Technical Glossary
Attributed to Girolamo Fagiuoli (Italian, active Bologna by 1539, died 1574), after Perino del Vaga (Italian, 1501–1547)
Engraving; plate 13 3/8 x 22 3/8 in. (34 x 56.8 cm)
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949 (49.95.8)
In the mid-sixteenth century, the story of Jupiter overcoming the Giants' uprising was often associated with the victories of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (r. 1519–56) over the Protestant rebellion. Such was the case with the vault painted in about 1533 by Perino del Vaga in a chamber that served as a temporary throne room for the emperor in Andrea Doria's Genoese palace. This engraving records one of the preliminary drawings for the fresco. Perino follows Ovid's account in showing Jupiter fighting the Giants without help from the other Olympians, yet includes the boulders and uprooted trees mentioned by Apollodorus (Library 1.6) as weapons of the Giants.
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Related Index Terms
Artist
- • del Vaga, Perino (Italian, 1501–1547)
- • Faccioli, Girolamo (Italian, active Bologna by 1539, d. 1574)
Material and Technique
Subject Matter/Theme
- • Figure, Deity
- • Figure, Deity, Greek and Roman
- • Figure, Deity, Greek and Roman, Zeus/Jupiter
- • Print, Engraving, Mythological
