print
- Museum number
- 1941,1204.23
- Description
-
An allegory on the birth of Urban VIII, which is compared to that of Zeus, nursed by the nymphs Adrasteia and Io, and that of the poet Pindar (see Philostratus, Imagines II 12); the infant is lying at left, attended by two nymphs; a swarm of bees, the symbol of the Barberini family, is flying towards him; on the right, four men dancing and playing music. c.1630
Engraving
- Production date
- 1630
- Dimensions
-
Height: 310 millimetres (trimmed)
-
Width: 405 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- See cat.84 in the catalogue of the work of Sacchi by Ann Sutherland Harris. This is a later state than the one illustrated there: the address of the publisher has been added, and the arms changed. She identifies the new arms in the lower right corner as of the Rossetti (rather than Spinola) family, and those held by the putti in the sky as of Cardinal Francesco (rather than Antonio) Barberini. One or other state must have been intended as a thesis print.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1941
- Acquisition notes
- The group of prints is recorded as having come from one lot in the sale of the Margam Castle collection which was purchased by the National Library of Wales.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1941,1204.23
