BRITTO, Giovanni

(b. ~1500 ?, d. ~1560 Venezia)

Woodcutter of German origin (originally Johannes Breit), active in Italy. His first work in Venice was the illustration of Petrarca spirituale by Girolamo Malipiero, published by Francesco Marcolini in 1536. In 1543 the inscription In Vinegia per Giovanni Britto Intagliatore… appears in the colophon of La congiuratione de Gheldresi contro la citta Danversa by Joannes Servilius (Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale), an unillustrated book printed by Marcolini, but there is no documentary evidence that Britto designed the fount, and his relationship with Marcolini is unclear.

Among his works are several woodcuts derived from works by Titian, for example the Adoration of the Shepherds, two portraits of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (inspired by a model drawn by Titian) and a Self-portrait of Titian signed In Venetia per Gioanni Britto Intagliatore datable to 1550 on account of Pietro Aretino’s laudatory sonnet addressed ‘to the German engraver’. A portrait of Süleyman I has been attributed to Britto as well as a group of woodcuts after Titian previously thought to be the work of Niccolò Boldrini: the Landscape with a Milkmaid, St Jerome in the Wilderness and The Stigmatization of St Francis.

In 1550 Britto signed the Descrittione di Bologna Maritima…, a wood-engraved plan of the siege of Boulogne-sur-Mer by Henry II, King of France, in 1549 (reproduced in, for example, the Lafréry Atlas).

Stylistically Britto’s work is marked by two phases. The first is still close in style to the German tradition, while the next, more individual, is clearly inspired by the technique of copper-engraving. The monogram ?, once considered the seal of Boldrini, is now generally accepted as belonging to Britto.

Francesco Priscianese

This woodcut was made after a drawing by Titian. It is from “La Lingua Romana”, published in Venice, 1540.

Francesco Priscianese was born in the small town of Pieve di Presciano in the diocese of Arezzo. At first he remained in his native area as a priest. Then, in the 1530s, he came to Rome. There he mainly occupied himself with the Latin language and quickly made a name for himself as a philologist. Before 1540 he wrote a Latin grammar book, and Aretino helped him find a Venetian publisher for it. His portrait is taken from this work. This was also the book in which he printed a letter to his friends Lodovico Becci and Luigi del Riccio, in which he describes spending an evening with Titian.

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Self-Portrait by Titian

This woodcut represents a lost self-portrait by Titian. As in the later Self-Portrait of 1562-64, Titian presented a highly dignified image of himself, wearing the costume of a Venetian nobleman or citizen and with his gold chain on his chest. In it he showed himself at work, with a drawing board and stylus.

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