Topography and Mythological Transfiguration in Two Sixteenth-Century Flemish Cityscapes of Genoa: a Painting by Jan Massys and an Etching by Anton van den Wyngaerde

The two most remarkable 16th century depictions of the town of Genoa were made by Flemish artists. In 1553 the engraver and cityscape specialist Anton van den Wyngaerde engraved an impressive and huge view (445 x 1600 mm), the only known impression of which is housed in the Kunglica Biblioteket, Stockholm; in 1561 the painter Jan Massys - or more likely a cityscape specialist who could have collaborated with him – represented the city from the port up to the Portofino promontory, in the background of the panel with the Venus Cythereia (Stockholm, Nationalmuseum). In both the works, the precise realism of the topography is associated to the intent to represent the beauty and the sovereignty of the city, in order to celebrate the power of the Genoese oligarchy. The paper demonstrates these two cityscapes are not only evidence of Genoa’s fame in mid-sixteenth century Antwerp, but also are proof of the celebration of the city in terms of idealistic and mythological transfiguration, a reflection of ideas that had matured inside the humanistic circle. Finally, the paper suggests that it was Anton van den Wyngaerde who was responsible for the view of Genoa inserted by Massys in his Venus, perhaps as the draftsman for the preparatory study, or, indeed, perhaps as a collaborator for the painting itself.