BARTOLOMMEO SANVITO AND AN ANTIQ^UE MOTIF M. L. EVANS A CURIOUS motif appears at the foot of the frontispiece of the celebrated copy of the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius of Caesarea, written and probably illuminated by Bartolommeo Sanvito, in the British Library (Department of Manuscripts, MS. Royal 14.C.III, fol. 2).^ This consists of a group of three putti, the central one wearing a grotesque Silenus mask, from whom his two colleagues flee in terror, the one on the left stumbling as he runs (fig. i). It has been pointed out that analogous figures may be found on the frontispiece of another manuscript attributed to Sanvito: a copy of Suetonius in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris (MS. lat. 5814, fol. i)^ (fig. 2). Here, two pairs of putti appear, engaged in combat amongst the piles of classicizing armour which form pilasters on either side of the cartouche which contains the opening lines of text. One of each pair is bareheaded and defending himself with a winged staff from attack by the second putto. The assailant on the right wears a full-face helmet of classical Greek appearance with a horsehair plume. That on the left wears a Silenus mask with a similar plume. Like the mask-wearing putto from the frontispiece of the British Library Fig. I. Bartolommeo Sanvito, frontispiece (detail), Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History. British Library, Department of Matiuscripts, MS. Royal 14.C.III, fol, 2 123 Fig. 2. Bartolommeo Sanvito, frontispiece (detail), Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars. Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, MS. lat. 5814, fol.i Eusebius, the latter scares his fellow by poking one hand through the mouth of the mask which covers his face. A closely related motif occurs in a drawing in the Louvre (fig. 3), in which a pair of bareheaded putti flee from two further putti wearing masks.^ As in the frontispiece mentioned above, the leading assailant wears a Silenus mask, through the mouth of which he extends a hand. The specific attribution ofthis drawing to Girolamo Mocetto seems unrealistic, although it is evidently Mantegnesque and apparently of the same approximate date as the Sanvito frontispieces, that is (7.1480-90.'*^ The somewhat facile handling ofthis drawing suggests that it is a copy of part of a larger composition rather than a preparatory study. A composition directly related to this drawing is described in Chapter 11 of the Arcadia of Jacopo Sannazaro, which was probably written after 1491 and possibly as late as 1502-4.^ This part of Sannazaro's pastoral describes a wrestling match between shepherds in which the prize was a maplewood bowl painted with scenes by Mantegna. The bowl was decorated with many things, but Sannazaro only describes two subjects. One of these, a scene of a female satyr nursing a young satyr, need not concern us here. The other is described thus: A little to one side of these could be seen two small boys, also naked, who having put on two horrible false-faces were thrusting their little hands through the mouth holes in order to frighten two others who were standing in front of them. One of these running away was turning around and crying out for fear; the other having already fallen to the ground was weeping and being unable to help himself in any other way was throwing up his hand to give the thing a scratch. The incidence ofthis motif in two Sanvito miniatures, a Mantegnesque drawing, and a work attributed by Sannazaro to Mantegna suggests that it was current in Padua, or 124 Fig. J. Four putti., drawing after Andrea Mantegna. Paris, Musee du Louvre, Cabinet des Dessins, inventory no. 5072 perhaps Rome which both Mantegna and Sanvito visited. It is probable that the Eusebius miniature precedes that from the Paris Suetonius, as the horsehair plume which decorates the mask in the latter has the appearance of a makeshift addition, suggested by the plume on the helmet of the armed putto on the left of the Suetonius frontispiece. A comparison of the stumbling ^w/r(? from the Eusebius miniature with the two frightened putti at the left of the Louvre drawing is revealing: whilst one of the latter has fallen down, his colleague looks backwards over his shoulder in flight. The falling figure in the London manuscript slips as he turns backwards. In other words, the putto in the illumination combines two activities which are allotted to separate figures in the drawing. Whilst this observation elucidates the relationship of the figure in the miniature to those in the drawing, it does not help to establish their order of priority or, rather, derivation, as it seems clear that the ultimate source of this motif should be an antique relief. Although Sannazaro mentioned this scene as part of the painted decorations of a maplewood bowl, it is implausible that he was simply describing an actual object which he had seen. The utilitarian nature and humble material of a wooden bowl were probably judged appropriate for the arcadian context in which this exercise in ekphrasis appears. Presumably, both his description and the Louvre drawing derive from another object, perhaps a painted frieze. Mantegna is known to have executed pictures of this type, informed by classical reliefs. His Triumph of Scipio in the National Gallery is a suitable example.^ If both Sannazaro and the artist of the Louvre drawing were recording a lost painting by Mantegna, as seems eminently plausible, this does not necessarily imply that the miniaturist of the London and Paris illuminations was also working from the same source. Indeed, an early sixteenth-century engraving by the Master of the Die suggests that this was not the case. This print depicts a procession of putti ^ one of whom is wearing a laurel crown and riding a goat, whilst some play musical instruments and others fight amongst themselves. Amongst the latter appear three figures fleeing from one holding a mask over his face (fig. 4)."^ This mask-wearing/»«//(? does not thrust his hand through the Fig. 4. Master of the Die, A Dionysiac Procession (detail), engraving, British Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings, no, 1875-7-10-142 126 Fig. 5. Sarcophagus (detail), Roman, end of second to beginning of third century AD. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art: William Randolph Hearst Collection mouth of his disguise, nor does the specific action of the fallen figure turning to scratch his face appear, which is common both to the description and the drawing. However, one of the putti is falling over, hands outstretched and head turned backwards. His pose, albeit reversed by the process of engraving, is practically identical to that of the stumbling figure in the Eusebius frontispiece. Moreover, several of the puttt in the engraving are waving weapons: a stick, a child's windmill, and a thyrsus. Their weapons recall the winged staves brandished by the combatants in the Suetonius frontispiece in Paris. The implication, that both the illuminator of the Sanvito manuscripts and the Master of the Die had access to a related or perhaps identical source, seems clear. It is highly unlikely that this was the same work as inspired Sannazaro and the artist of the Louvre drawing, as the latter evidently included the motif of the fallen putto lunging at the mask of his attacker. Sanvito presumably knew either a Quattrocento picture which incorporated antique motifs or a classical carving, probably from a sarcophagus. There are numerous extant classical reliefs which include the motif of a putto with a mask scaring another.^ A few depict the putto thrusting a hand through the mouth hole of his mask and his victim or victims standing upright with their hands raised in amazement.^ More commonly, the assailant merely holds the mask over his face as he threatens his sprawling foe.^° The example illustrated here (fig. 5) is of the latter type and comes from a Dionysiac sarcophagus of the late second or early third century AD which was seen by Pierre Jacques during the sixteenth century, by 1891 was at Monte Cavallo near Castel Gandolfo, and is 127 currently in the Los Angeles County Museum. ^^ I do not know of an extant example which combines the motif of a putto thrusting a hand through the mouth hole of his mask with that of a falling or fallen figure leaning backwards fearfully towards his assailant. Nevertheless, given the compositions of the British Library miniature, the engraving and the Paris drawing, and that described by Sannazaro, it seems highly probable that such a relief existed during the fifteenth century. Did this motif have a specific meaning? It has been suggested that the classical prototypes were intended to signify fear of death. ^^ This hypothesis was subsequently elaborated by comparison with the putto with the Death's head, a popular momento mori during the later fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.^^ Alternately, it has been claimed that the motif was originally connected with initiation into the Dionysiac mysteries. ^''^ I am grateful to Dr Geoffrey Waywell for pointing out that it may simply refiect a satirical approach to Dionysiac ritual, the mask being an attribute of Dionysus as god of the theatre. It has been noted that the pair of putti, one bareheaded and the other wearing a mask, in a painting of Lot and his Daughters attributed to the Veronese artist Bonifazio de' Pitati and dated c.1545, were meant to be evocative of the dichotomy between truth and falsehood. ^^ This interpretation, which is in keeping with the commentary on masks in Cesare Ripa's later Iconologia., is apposite to a picture which portrays an act of deception, but hardly seems applicable to the texts of Eusebius and Suetonius.