The Battle of Lepanto, 7 October 1571

Text in Latin in a box, lower left. This consists of a Latin verse which is either the whole or part of 'On the treaty struck between the Christian leaders' by Belisario Gadaldini, whose name appears under it it. Below that are those of the artists involved: Martin Rota of Sebenico (Sibenik, Croatia), a painter now mainly known by prints after him, as the 'inventor', and stating that 'Jacobus Francus restituit; apud Nicolaum Nelli M.D.LXII'. Although not the literal translation this Latin terminology means 'Giacomo Franco engraved it for sale by Nicolo Nelli, 1572'. Rota's dates are c.1520-1583; Franco's, 1550-1620 and Nelli's c.1552-1579. (While often appearing as Martin, Rota's first name was more properly Martino and Franco's also often appears as Jacobus.)

An unknown 19th/20th-century Italian hand has written 'Battaglia di Lepanto' on the lower left edge of the sheet and an indecipherable word and '70' at lower right. There may be a now indecipherable intaglio inscription around the centre of the lower plate edge. PAG7046 and PAG8717 appear to be duplicate copies (TBC) and all relate, probably as one of the sources, to NMM BHC0261, a contemporary oil painting of the battle. A similar large oil of squarer format and by another hand is in the Museo Correr, Venice, which also has an impression from just the lower left block of a large four-block woodcut of the battle by Christoforo Guerra (d.1589/90), which may have been prime source for all. There is old report of a full copy in the Uffizi, Florence, and it has now (2023) become apparent through online cataloguing that the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris also has one.

The Gadaldini poem on this print is one of 22 contemporary ones on the battle translated and commented on by Elizabeth R. Wright, Sarah Spence and Andrew Lemons in 'The Battle of Lepanto', published in the Harvard U.P. 'The I Tatti Renaissance Library' series, no. 61 (2014).

Object Details

ID: PAF4402
Type: Print
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Francis, Jacobus; Rota, Martin Nelson, Catherine Nelli, Nicolo Francus, Jacobus
Events: Fourth Ottoman-Venetian War: Battle of Lepanto, 1571
Date made: 1572
People: Ottoman Navy; Venetian Fleet
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Caird Collection
Measurements: Sheet: 334 mm x 429 mm
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