And in case it’s of interest, here’s a summary of the responses I received.

Thanks again,

Amanda

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Amanda Rust • English & American Literature Librarian • Northeastern University Libraries

360 Huntington Ave. Boston MA 02115 • [log in to unmask] • (617) 373-8548

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The dictionary of symbols in Western art by Sarah Carr-Gomm might be a good place to start.  The Grove Art Online (or the text) should have substantial entries on Italian Renaissance Art, engravings and mythological iconography, include extensive bibliographies. The Metropolitan Museum’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History is an excellent web resource that features scholarly essays on Renaissance Art and engravings (with bibliographies!), including a specific entry on Ovid’s Metamorphoses: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hi/hi_grkovmet.htm .

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I am not sure this will help, but it was published during the same period of the late 16th century: Cesare Ripa: The Iconologia overo Descrittione Dell’imagini Universali cavate dall’Antichità et da altri luoghi was a highly influential emblem book based on Egyptian, Greek and Roman emblematical representations.

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I think I remembered reading about these engravings in a book called Old Masters New World by Cynthia Saltzman.  The book is about collectors in the US and what they collected and how the acquired them.  You may be able to find some help there. 

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There are two databases I manage, one of which is also a classification system for sources from the history of art and culture. It is a bit like the Dewey, but its primary aim is not secondary literature, but primary sources, and it is called Iconclass (http://www.iconclass.org). The other one is an aggregator website called Arkyves (http://www.arkyves.org) ... Our database does contain quite a few Metamorphoses

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Have you tried this one:

Title: The Oxford guide to classical mythology in the arts, 1300-1990s /

Author(s): Reid, Jane Davidson, 1918-

Rohmann, Chris. 

New York : Oxford University Press, 1993

And what about Oxford Art Online?  Here’s the bibliography listed in the entry for Ovid:

M. D. Henkel: ‘Illustrierte Ausgaben von Ovids Metamorphosen im XV., XVI. und XVII. Jahrhundert’, Vorträge der Bibliothek Warburg, vi (1926–7) (Leipzig and Berlin, 1930), pp. 58–144 

H. Bartholomé: Ovid und die antike Kunst (diss., U. Münster, 1934; Leipzig, 1935) 

P. Grimal: ‘Les “Métamorphoses” d’Ovide et la peinture paysagiste à l’époque d’Auguste’, Rev. Etud. Lat., xvi (1938), pp. 145–61 

C. M. Dawson: Romano-campanian Mythological Landscape Painting, Yale Classical Studies, ix (New Haven, 1944/R Rome, 1965) 

H. Herter: ‘Ovids Verhältnis zur bildenden Kunst: Am Beispiel der Sonnenburg illustriert’, Ovidiana: Recherches sur Ovide, publiées à l’occasion du bimillénaire de la naissance du poète, ed. N. I. Herescu (Paris, 1958), pp. 49–74 

E. Panofsky: Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art (Stockholm, 1960/R New York, 1972) 

C. G. Lord: Some Ovidian Themes in Italian Renaissance Art (diss., New York, Columbia U., 1968) 

D. C. Allen: Mysteriously Meant: The Rediscovery of Pagan Symbolism and Allegorical Interpretation in the Renaissance (Baltimore and London, 1970) 

B. Guthmüller: ‘Picta Poesis Ovidiana’, Renatae Litterae, Studien zum Nachleben der Antike und zur europäischen Renaissance, [Festschrift] August Buck (Frankfurt, 1973), pp. 171–92; also in B. Guthmüller: Studien zur antiken Mythologie in der italienischen Renaissance (Weinheim, 1986), pp. 101–15 

H. van de Waal: Iconclass: An Iconographic Classification System, completed and ed. L. D. Couprie (Amsterdam and London, 1973–85) [esp. div. 9, Classical Mythology, section 97, Metamorphoses] 

B. Guthmüller: ‘Ovidübersetzungen und mythologische Malerei: Bemerkungen zur Sala dei Giganti Giulio Romanos’, Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Instituts in Florenz, xxi (1977), pp. 35–68; also in B. Guthmüller: Studien zur antiken Mythologie in der italienischen Renaissance (Weinheim, 1986), pp. 117–41 

Ovidius herschapen: Geïllustreerde uitgaven van de Metamorphoses in de Nederlanden uit de zestiende, zeventiende en achtiende eeuw (exh. cat., ed. A. W. A. Boschloo; The Hague, Rijksmus. Meermanno–Westreenianum; 1980) 

E. J. Sluijter: De ‘heydensche fabulen’ in de Noordnederlandse schilderkunst, circa 1590–1670: Een proeve van beschrijving en interpretatie van schilderijen met verhalende onderwerpen uit de klassieke mythologie (diss., U. Leiden, 1986) 

N. Llewellyn: ‘Illustrating Ovid’, Ovid Renewed: Ovidian Influences on Literature and Art from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth century, ed. C. Martindale (Cambridge, 1988), pp. 151–66 

G. Amielle: ‘Traduction picturale et traduction littéraire des “Métamorphoses” d’Ovide, en France, à la Renaissance’, Bull. Assoc. Guillaume Budé (1989), pp. 280–93 

P. Maréchaux: ‘Les Métamorphoses de Phaëton: Etude sur les illustrations d’un mythe à travers les éditions des “Métamorphoses” d’Ovide de 1484 à 1552’, Rev. A. [Paris], xc (1990), pp. 88–103 [in fact covers period to 1557] 

Les Amours des dieux: La Peinture mythologique de Watteau à David (exh. cat., ed. C. B. Bailey; Paris, Grand Pal.; Philadelphia, PA, Mus. A.; Fort Worth, TX, Kimbell A. Mus.; 1991–2) 

There’s also a nice bibliography in the entry for Prints, Subject-matter. 

And have you searched WorldCat for books under the subject “Metamorphosis in art” ?  There are several books on the topic.  Also try combining some of these subjects:

Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 or 18 A.D. --Influence.

Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 or 18 A.D. Metamorphoses --In art Mythology, Classical, in art.

Fables, Latin -- Illustrations.

Art and mythology.

Some titles retrieved include:

Title: Mythology in prints ; illustrations to the Metamorphoses of Ovid, 1497-1824;

Author(s): Prindle, Lester Marsh, 1892-  ed.

Burlington, Vt., The editor, 1939

Title: Jean Jacques Boissard, Ovids Metamorphosen 1556 : die Bildhandschrift 79 C 7 aus dem Berliner Kupferstichkabinett /

Author(s): Thimann, Michael. 

Berlin : Gebr. Mann, 2005

Title: Mito, poesia, arte : saggi sulla tradizione ovidiana nel Rinascimento /

Author(s): Guthmüller, Bodo. 

Roma : Bulzoni, 1997

Title: Holzschnittfolgen zu den Metamorphosen des Ovid, Venedig 1497 und Mainz 1545 /

Author(s): Blattner, Evamarie. 

München : Scaneg, 1996

Title: Metamorphosen der "Metamorphosen" : Ovids Verwandlungssagen in der textbegleitenden Druckgraphik /

Author(s): Huber-Rebenich, Gerlinde. 

Corp Author(s): Stadtmuseum Göhre (Jena, Germany) Rudolstadt : Hain, 1999

Title: Metamorphosed margins : the case for a visual rhetoric of the Renaissance Grottesche under the influence of Ovid's Metamorphoses /

Author(s): Kommerell, Victor.

Publication: Hildesheim ; New York : Olms, 2008

Many moons ago when I was an art librarian I worked on an earlier version of an iconography research guide that is at: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/fal/resource_guides/pdf/iconography_2011.pdf

And of course for the study of Renaissance prints you’ll want to refer to standard sources such as:

W. L. Strauss, ed.: The Illustrated Bartsch (New York, 1978–) and/or to A. von Bartsch: Le Peintre-graveur (1803–21)

Vesme, Alexandre de: Le peintre-graveur italien; ouvrage faisant suite au Peintre-graveur de Bartsch. (Milan, 1906)

Hollstein, F. W. H. Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700. (Amsterdam, 1949-)

Hollstein, F. W. H. German engravings, etchings, and woodcuts, ca. 1400-1700. (Amsterdam, 1954-) and/or to The new Hollstein : German engravings, etchings and woodcuts, 1400-1700. (Rotterdam, 1996-)

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There is a short iconographical essay on metamorphosis in the "Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography."  

Also, Gods and Heroes of Classical Antiquity (Flammarion Iconographic Guides). 

Grove Art Online provides many hits for Ovid.

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This may not answer your question but it is a good source of some data:

                The Illustrated Bartsch   now available in ARTstor.

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Hello, all—

I’m an English and American Literature librarian out of my depth on this topic, so am appealing for help. 

I’m working with a faculty member doing some research on the source and iconography for a series of Northern Italian engravings from the 1590s. The engravings display anthropomorphic figures from Ovid's _Metamorphoses_.  They’ve already checked potential candidates from illustrated pre-1590's printed editions of the _Metamorphoses_, as well as the Ovid Illustrated site from the Univ. of Virginia.  I’ve also been looking through WorldCat for things like a dictionary of Italian Renaissance iconography.

Since I’m not an art librarian, I wanted to ask if there were some well-known and magical art history source that would be a good place to start.  Or perhaps there’s an index or website that would help?  Are there other methods that would be useful, when researching a Renaissance image and how it might copy or refer to other images or sources?

Thanks in advance,

Amanda

__________________________________________________

Amanda Rust • Research & Instruction Librarian • Northeastern University Libraries

360 Huntington Ave. Boston MA 02115 • [log in to unmask] • (617) 373-8548