RKD STUDIES

The Master of the Roman Songbook appears to be quite inventive, but in some cases, he or she drew inspiration from works by other artists, especially for traditional themes. The iconographical sources are largely related to the Roman context of the first half of the 17th century and can be found in both paintings and graphic works. This becomes particularly clear in the music manuscript.

There are remarkable similarities between the first drawing of the songbook [1] and two compositions by Agostino Tassi (1580–1644), namely the drawing in Lyon representing Alexander visiting the tomb of Achilles [46], and the painting of Tancredi visiting the tomb of Clorinda sold at Sotheby's in 1996 [47], currently in private hands.¹

The disposition of the characters in the musical vignette may have also been inspired by the drawn version of the theme by Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665) in the National Museum in Stockholm [48]. Filippo Lauri (1623–1694) also painted a version of it [49] that bears remarkable similarities with Tassi's drawing in the construction of the monument.

The working relationship between these artists has been described in the literature and gives reason to suppose that Master of the Roman Songbook could be placed in the same vibrant Roman artistic context.²

1
Master of the Roman Songbook
Landscape with a visit to a tomb, 1652 or 1653
Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense, inv./cat.nr. MS2478

A handful of prints from the set of landscapes with mythological scenes by Antonio Tempesta (1555–1630) published by Nicolas van Aelst (ca. 1526–1613) before 1613, served as inspiration for several vignettes in the manuscript: the Rape of Europa [4] shares the same emphatic despair of the women on the left and the disposition of the landscape on the same side [50]; the Fall of Phaeton [10] is also very similar to Tempesta's composition, even if the sleeping Argus in the print has been transformed into the personification of a river in the drawing [51]; the natural pool with the waterfall on the right side of Diana and Actaeon [13] resembles the print as does the pose of Actaeon who is about to turn in a stag [52]; the touching scene of the Death of Adonis [18] has much in common with Tempesta's depiction of the theme [54]; the Fall of Icarus [23] contains many elements that appear in the print [53], although our draughtsman also seems to indebted here to Paul Bril.³

The etching Ambush under a rocky arch by Jacques Callot (1592–1635) [55] is the likely source of a similar scene in the manuscript [16], although the background is far more pronounced and filled with details.

Finally, the scene of the urban fire can recalls the Fire of Troy or Fire of Borgo (no. 9) by Raphael (1483–1520) in the Stanze della Segnatura. Less evident is the source for the Andromeda (no. 20) although it reminds us of the compositions by Roman masters such as Giuseppe Cesari (1568–1640).

Self quotations

In several cases, the Master of the Roman Songbook reused a single figure or groups of figures in compositions, both in small and large format, of which the artists had evidently built up a repertoire. These recurring figures appear in genre scenes and compositions depicting passages from literary sources. For instance, the figure of a seated oboist or shawm player appears in seven drawings, albeit in different poses.⁴ The reclining man on the ground, with his back to the viewer, appears in five works and once he is transformed into a woman.⁵ The child with raised hand appears in four sketches.⁶ The seated mother embracing her child features in two drawings.⁷ A shepherd with a stick, walking and looking backwards or forwards and pointing a finger, occurs six times.⁸ A group of two or three standing women embracing each other appears in eight drawings.⁹ But the most frequently recurring character is the elderly man in profile, leaning on a stick, that is present in nine compositions .¹⁰ In a few cases, the artist repeated more or less the same scene as a whole. In a few cases, the artist repeated or reelaborated entire scenes with few variations. For example, there is a strong resemblance between the depiction on vellum formerly with Van der Kindere [43] and the vignette No 22 in the Roman songbook [22]; this is also true of several other scenes.¹¹