these six Triumphs is that of St. Stephen the Protomartyr, who is enthroned on an Elephant; he bears the Standard of Charity, and the prisoners following him are his Persecutors. An these fanciful and ingenious works display much ability, and all were engraved by Jeronimo Cocca, whose hand was a very bold, firm, and powerful one.
The same master engraved a plate wherein he represented Fraud and Avarice, in a singularly fanciful and beautiful manner; and in another, which is also very beautiful, he has engraved a Feast of Bacchanals, with a Dance of Children. There is in like manner a work by Jeronimo, representing Moses Passing the Red Sea, as that subject had been painted in the upper chapel of the ducal palace, in Florence,[1] by the Florentine painter, Agnolo Bronzino. In competition with Jeronimo, and also after the design of Agnolo Bronzino, Giorgio of Mantua then engraved a Birth of our Saviour Christ, which was likewise very beautiful. Receiving his commission from the person who had invented the subjects; Jeronimo next engraved twelve plates, representing the Victories, Battles, and deeds of arms of Charles V.; and for Verese, a painter and very clever master in perspective of those parts, he executed twenty plates; exhibiting buildings of various character.
For Jeronimo Bos,[2] our artist engraved a plate of San Martino, wherein there is a Barque filled with Demons of the most extraordinary shapes; and in another plate he represented an Alchymist who is making havoc of all that he possesses in divers modes among his crucibles, and, distilling his own brains, ultimately consumes and wastes everything he has, until he finally brings himself with his wife and children to the hospital. The last mentioned plate was designed for Jeronimo by a painter, who caused him also to engrave the Seven Mortal Sins, with Demons of various forms; a very fantastic and laughable invention. The same master engraved a plate of the Last Judgment with one of an Old
- ↑ The Chapel, with the paintings of Bronzino, still exists in the Palazzo Vecchio. —Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
- ↑ Hieronymus Bos, of Herzogenhusch, called Jerome the Joyous. Seven large pictures by this master will be found in the Escurial, with others in other parts of Spain. The plates ascribed to him are not of his engraving, but only invented by him.— Zani and Bottari.
