Juno seated on a cloud

This engraving depicts Juno seated on a cloud with hair in tight curls,and to the left are two other goddesses, and two putti to the right. It is from a series of four prints, <em>Gods and godesses in roundels. </em>Te Papa also has in its collection Ghisi's <em>Apollo, Neptune and Pluto</em> (1910-0001-1/77-80). The relief like appearance is not by chance: the engraving relates to Francesco Primaticcio's designs for the ceiling of the Galerie d'Ulysse at the Palace of Fontainebleau, commissioned by King François (Francis) I of France. Ghisi probably worked from Primaticcio's preparatory drawings and not from the ceiling itself.

Giorgio Ghisi (1520-1582) was a leading printmaker of the period who came from Mantua and, like Primaticcio, worked in France.

This engraving is in the so-called King George IV album of Old Master prints.

See: British Museum Collection online,  http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectI d=1466573&partId=1&searchText=Ghisi+Juno&page=1

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art       March 2017