Colossus L'Apenin, Pratolino
Medium
lithograph on wove paper
Dimensions
overall: 41.2 x 27 cm (16 1/4 x 10 5/8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Frank Anderson Trapp
Accession Number
2004.128.22
Art Historical Context
Behold the majestic *Colossus L'Apenin, Pratolino*, captivating 1822 lithograph French artist Jean-Baptiste Isabey This print, measuring 41.2 x 27 cm on smooth wove paper, vividly captures the colossal Mannerist sculpture by Giambologna, erected in the 1580s at the Villa Pratolino near Florence, Italy. The giant figure, symbolizing the Apennine Mountains, emerges dramatically from a rocky cavern, embodying Renaissance grandeur and the power of nature harnessed by human ingenuity. Isabey, a celebrated miniaturist and early master of lithography—a revolutionary technique invented just two decad...
About the Artist
Jean-Baptiste Isabey · 1767–1855
Jean-Baptiste Isabey (1767–1855) was a French painter and miniaturist whose extraordinary longevity and adaptability allowed him to serve as the preeminent portraitist of successive French regimes — from the court of Louis XVI through the Revolution, the Napoleonic Empire, the Restoration, and into the July Monarchy — making his career an almost unparalleled chronicle of French political and socia...