The Martyrdom of Saint Peter Mart., Engraving by Martino Rota after Titian, Venice ca. 1568

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Engraving by Martino Rota (Šibenik ca.1520–Prague 1583) after Titian (Venice 1488/90–1576), published by Luca Guerinoni in Venice ca.1568; backed sheet, rare impression.

The subject is the Martyrdom of Saint Peter Martyr, after Titian’s lost altarpiece once in the Venetian church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo. The composition shows the violent attack beneath a stormy forest while an angel descends with a sword, a dramatic invention typical of Titian.

Martino Rota (Šibenik ca.1520 – Prague 1583), later court engraver to Rudolf II in Prague, was among the most refined interpreters of Titian’s art, translating Venetian color into dense, sculptural burin lines of striking intensity.

• Engraver: Martino Rota
• Inventor: Titian (Ticianus Inventor)
• Publisher: Luca Guerinoni (Lucae Guerinoni Formis)
• Technique: copper engraving
• Date: ca. 1568–1580, Venice
• Measurements: approx. 40 × 27 cm
• Condition: fair, with trimmed margins. The sheet has been backed with old laid paper (reinforced with a second sheet, a traditional conservation practice).

States of the plate.

According to Bartsch (XVI, p.256, no.20), the engraving is known in a single state, bearing the inscriptions Ticianus Inventor – Martinus Rota Sibe F. and Lucae Guerinoni Formis. No later versions with alterations are recorded; all impressions stem from this edition.

The printer:

Luca Guerinoni (active in Venice ca. 1568–1569) was a printer and publisher who collaborated with leading engravers to spread the work of Venetian masters across Europe. He is best known for publishing engravings by Martino Rota, who later became court engraver in Prague under Rudolf II.

His collaboration with Rota was central to the dissemination of Titian’s inventions. Guerinoni issued engravings after Titian’s major paintings—several now lost—ensuring their survival and diffusion among collectors, merchants, and European courts.

This Martyrdom of Saint Peter Martyr epitomizes that synergy: Titian’s pictorial genius, Rota’s incisive skill, and Guerinoni’s editorial vision combined to create an image that circulated far beyond Venice, anticipating the international taste of the Rudolfine Renaissance in Prague.

Impressions of this engraving are preserved in the British Museum, London (inv. 1874,0808.1941), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acquired 1917), the Museo Civico, Bassano del Grappa, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF).