79/5327 Anonymous (16th cent.). (Lion with her cub and two putti). Engraving after Tomaso VINCIDOR and Giovanni DA UDINE, 12,5x21,5 cm., "RA VR IN 1546" in the plate.

- Browned and soiled; tipped onto mount.

= Extremely rare, no other copies traced by us of this engraving. In 1537 monogrammist FG engraved the same composition but mirrored (cf. Nagler Monogrammisten, 2914, no.8), after which this engraving is almost certainly copied. FG is considered to be a German artist and this copy is probably also from the German School. The composition is based on a design for a large series of tapestries "Giouchi di Putti", commissioned by pope Leo X (for the Sala di Constantino in the Vatican) in Brussels around 1521. According to Vasari the designs are originally by Giovanni da Udine, whereby it is still unclear to what extent the designs of the series were still based on a conception by Raphael (who died in 1520). The supervision of the project in Brussels, in the tapestry atelier of Van Aelst, lay in the hands of Tomasao Vincidor, who had been part of Raphaels workshop together with Giovanni da Udine. The tapestries and the cartoons are lost, but drawings of Vincidor have survived, including the drawing on which this composition was based (now in The British Museum). SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE XCVI.