Wilton album, folio 40 verso: The Drunken Silenus (Paniere Farnese)
Francesco Villamena Italian
After Annibale Carracci Italian
Not on view
On folio 40 verso.
For more information on the Wilton album see entry for 27.78.1(1-428).
A pristine and unique impression of the first state, before lettering was added to the lower margin. Long believed to have copied Annibale Carracci's Tazza Farnese (see 27.78.1.150), Villamena was probably commission to engrave this composition on a silver plate, later incorporated into the Paniere Farnese, to serve as a companion piece to Carracci's Tazza. The two engraved plates were mounted into a luxury suite of serving vessels, as witnessed by their mention in the Farnese inventory of 1644: 'Una panattiera compagna della sottocopa [i.e. Annibale’s tazza], con le cornini e pieidi dorati'. It is likely that Villamena pulled impressions from the plate before it was mounted into the vessel. The engraved silver plate, once again detached from its mounting, now survives in the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe of the Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples (inv. 802). For the most recent discussion of of these objects see Etheridge 2007, no. 17.4
