Allegorical figure of Rome holding a statuette of Victory

Jacopo Negretti was an Italian artist (1548 - 1628), known as Palma Giovane or Il Giovane, to distinguish him from his great uncle, also called Jacopo Palma (il Vecchio, 1478/90 - 1528) and his father Antonio Palma, both painters. He became the leading and most prolific painter and draughtsman in Venice after the death of Jacopo Tintoretto (1518 - 1594), whose style greatly influenced Palma's own work. Palma's vast body of works represents the impact of Tintoretto and central Italian Mannerism on Venetian painting in the generation after Titian, Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese. This print depicts the city of Rome as a woman wearing armour and holding a figure of Victory. On the right hand side are Romulus, the founder of Rome, and his twin brother Remus as infants, being suckled by a wolf. This image was a symbol of Rome since the 3rd century BCE. This print, along with WAG 9180-82, appeared as one of twenty-six etchings by Palma which were published in 1611 as 'De Excellentia et nobilitate delineationis libri duo' (Principles of Drawing) by Giacomo Franco. It was reprinted in 1636 by Marco Sadeler as 'Regole per imparar a disegnar i corpi humani divise in doi libri delineatri dal Famoso Pittor Giacomo Palma'. Other prints in the books were produced by Jacopo Franco and Luca Ciamberlano after Palma's designs. A similar print of the allegory of Rome was also printed in the book. In that print, Rome looks away from the viewer and the image is more closely cropped, without Romulus and Remus.