The Antinous Braschi on Engraved Gems: An Intaglio by Giovanni Beltrami

Abstract

A large engraved citrine was recently sold at auction in America, misdescribed. The work of Giovanni Beltrami (Cremona 1770-1854), this intaglio represents the Antinous Braschi. Carved gems depicting Antinous are quite common, but they usually figure the Albani relief, the Capitoline statue or the Marlborough intaglio, and this makes this unpublished jewel rather unusual. The Antinous Braschi was found in 1793, and it entered the Papal collections in 1843. This type was favoured by Giuseppe Girometti (Rome, 1779-1851) who left several cameos of the bust of the Antinous Braschi: they are now in London, in the Vatican, and in Vienna. Luigi Pichler (1773-1854) also carved a similar intaglio, but it is now lost. In the absence of archive documents, we must assume that these gems were carved for Grand Tourists, and a date around 1800-1830 seems fairly certain.