The history of the collection
There was already a small collection of engravings in the Casanate private library and the Dominican librarians who followed committed themselves to the acquisition of artistic material, but only from 1735, under the prefecture of Father Agnani, there was a significant increase in the collection of prints, which continued also under the impetus of Father Giovanni Battista Audiffredi, from 1749 to 1794. Rare and precious material then flowed into the Casanatense during the years of the French occupation following the acquisition of the assets of some suppressed convents and, after the restoration, following the significant legacy of the abbot Antonio Riccy. The notable increase made it necessary to create a special room called the “print room”.
The collection continued to expand following a privilege granted by Gregory XVI in 1831, which lasted until 1870, which provided for the free delivery to the Casanatense of a copy of each print produced by the Calcografia Camerale, a sort of modern printing right.
The artistic quality of the collection
To date, the collection features the greatest Italian engravers. To name just a few, Marcantonio Raimondi and other exponents of the Roman school, Giorgio Ghisi and the Mantuan school for the 16th century; the Neapolitan Salvator Rosa, and the Florentine Stefano Della Bella for the 17th century; the Roman views and antiquities of Giovanni Battista Piranesi embody the neoclassical taste of the 18th century; the variety of works by Bartolomeo Pinelli takes us into the first decades of the 19th century.
The number of works by foreign masters is also considerable, with a clear prevalence of the German and Flemish schools: Albrecht Durer, Hans Baldung Grien, Hendrik Goltzius, Lucas van Leyden, Abraham and Cornelis Bloemaert, the Wierixes, the Collaerts, the Sadelers, the latter being true dynasties of engravers present with their best examples. The French school is also elegantly represented by the capricious and bizarre inventions of Jacques Callot and by the landscape painters Perelle and Silvestre.
Read more:
A. Vicini Mastrangeli e I. Olivieri, Incisioni e oggetti d’arte nelle collezioni della Casanatense, in La Biblioteca Casanatense, Firenze, Nardini, 1993, p. 173-229
A. Alberati, Scenografie barocche, in La Biblioteca Casanatense, Firenze, Nardini, 1993, p. 230-251
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