Standing Bellona

Author: Gert Jan van der Sman

Bellona, goddess of war, armed and armoured with helmet, lance and ornate shield, is depicted in three-quarter view in an animated pose accentuated by the swirling folds of her robe. Andrea Schiavone here demonstrates his lively treatment of the chiaroscuro technique. Light and dark accents alternate rhythmically on the light brown ground of the paper. The brushwork is spontaneous yet subtle. The white highlights on Bellona’s outstretched arm, for example, are restrained and delicate.

The Rotterdam drawing is directly related to an etching of a similar size by Schiavone (fig.).^[1] This print differs in some respects from the drawing: the decoration of the shield has been changed, as has the position of the hilt of the sword beside Bellona’s hip. Although the present drawing served as the starting point for the etching, it was not followed exactly. Schiavone always worked freely and creatively when drawing in the wax layer on the copper plates of his etchings.

Bellona’s appearance was inspired by the elegant imagery of Parmigianino (1503-1540). The goddess’s billowing gown, for instance, recalls his composition of Circe and the Companions of Odysseus.^[2] There are even indications that Schiavone had a drawing of Bellona by the Parmesan artist that has not survived. That is suggested by two visual sources. In Moscow there is a drawing by Schiavone that was almost certainly a companion piece to the Rotterdam sheet.^[3] It is of Minerva in her role as goddess of strategic war, with a shield, helmet, lance and sword, and some books at her feet. An anonymous drawing in Berlin in the Roman Sketchbooks of Maarten van Heemskerck reveals that this Minerva figure was part of the decoration of the facade of a palace to which Parmigianino is said to have contributed.^[4] The Berlin drawing only records the left-hand part of that lost fresco, but since painted friezes were usually symmetrical, it is plausible that the right-hand side also depicted a standing goddess of war. All this indicates that the Bellona in the Rotterdam drawing journeyed through Italy before finding a joyous Venetian interpretation in Schiavone’s hands.