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ANTONIO SALAMANCA, publisher
(Salamanca 1478- Rome 1562)
PORTRAIT OF POPE JULIUS III

Engraving, fine impression of the only state; 293 x 213 mm, with thin margins.

PROVENANCE:
Collection d'ARENBERG (Lugt 567)
P. DAVIDSOHN (Lugt 654)

Print publisher and dealer in books and prints from Salamanca. Active in Rome. His family name was Martinez. He was in Rome by 1505 From 1517 till his death he is recorded as active as a publisher and seller of books and prints; also as a banker. His shop was in the Campo de' Fiori and was recorded as a place where learned antiquarian conversations took place. The census of 1526/27 shows that he had nine people working in his libreria. Many of the prints he published were of Roman antiquities, starting in 1538 with prints like the Colosseum. In 1553 he formed a partnership with Antonio Lafrery, whose plates he seems to have been copying. This was dissolved after his death by his son Francesco, and his share of the stock was bought out by Lafrery. A famous portrait print of Salamanca by Nicolas Beatrizet calls him Orbis et Urbis Imitator, and Sebastiano del Piombo made a drawing of Salamanca in around 1520 that is preserved in the British Museum.