Who was PICHLER, GIOVANNI?

PICHLER, GIOVANNI (Ital.). Really Johann Anton. Gem-engraver, Painter, Draughtsman, and Line-engraver, son of Antonio Pichler. born at Naples on 1. January 1734, died at Rome on 25. January 1791. His father first instructed him, and he later studied under Domenico Corvi, the celebrated painter. So rapid was his progress that at the age of sixteen he produced his first notable work, a copy in onyx of an antique gem representing Hercules crushing the lion. In the same year, 1750, he cut another intaglio, showing a bull attacked by a lion, which is signed : ?IX?EP. His intellect was endowed with rare powers, but although he devoted himself to various branches of art, Gem-engraving always remained his work of predilection. For a number of years the artist worked for antiquaries, who benefitted by his skill, as we learn from the following extract : “Pichler told Dutens (' Mem. d'un Voyageur ', iii, 153) that, although he had always been striving to imitate the ancient masters, he did not consider his own best works as equal to even their mediocre performances. Nevertheless, having once obtained a fine sardonyx, ne engraved on it a youth with a hoop (trochus), tolerably to his satisfaction. He lost the gem, and supposed it to have been stolen by a pupil. Some weeks after, a noted antiquary, Alfani, brought him his gem, for which he had just paid fifty zecchini to another antiquary, Christiani. The latter had bought it from a peasant, who stated that he had dug it up in his garden. Pichler was ordered to make a fac-simile at the price of forty zecchini. Alfani then took the two to Paris, sold the first to M. St. Augny, the copy to another amateur, both as antiques, at a hundred Louis each. The purchasers chancing to meet, each claimed his own as the antique of the two, and finally sent both by post to Rome, for Pichler's judgment. The latter told the whole story, having discovered that his pupil had employed a contadino to pass off the gem on Christiani". In 1761 Pichler was entrusted with the painting of four Altar tablets and Choir table for the Franciscans at Orioli, but this is the only important work of painting that he did, beside the large altarpiece, representing St. Thomas of Villanova, executed for the Augustine monks of Bracciano. In 1763 he definitively settled at Rome and married there Antonia Selli, by whom he had several children. On the visit of the Emperor Joseph II. to Rome in 1769, Countess Schuvalow commissioned Pichler to make his portrait, which was approved of, and won him the title of Gem-engraver to His Majesty, and a knighthood. In 1775 he was persuaded to go to London, but did not go further than Milan, difficulties arising in his family that obliged him to return to Rome, where Pope Pius VI. gave him a special appointment, and entrusted him with the execution of his portrait, as Clement XIV. had done before him. “Pichler's intaglios are usually on stones of large dimensions, the drawing is admirable, the engraving not very deep, but alter the true Greek manner, the details carefully given and the whole beautifully polished. This great artist's forte lay in the representation of female loveliness : his large bust of Helen, his numerous copies of the antique Venus at full length in her various attitudes, and in busts, constitute the noblest of his works. Köhler accuses him of having produced a large number of Etruscan Scarabei, in imitation of their peculiar style, and designed to pass for antique ; and also of inserting " artists' signatures " upon really ancient gems at the request of their owners — the most despicable of frauds " (King, Antique Gems, 1872, p. 440). Rossi states that Pichler passed a few of his intaglios as antiques, at times either to ridicule some pretended connoisseur or to punish others who had criticised his work, but that in such cases he never asked a bigger price than for productions which he would have acknowledged to be modern and by his own hand. His reputation was such that some of his contemporaries inscribed his name on their own works in order to facilitate their sale. Pichler prepared paste reproductions of his cameos and intaglios; they number 220, but do not comprize many of his earlier works. His imitations of antique gems were so clever, that even Winckelmann was deceived by some of them. He usually signed : I. ?.; — ?IX?EP;— ?IX?EP E?OIEI; — ?IX?EP E?.; — ?.;— J. P., &c. Dr Rollett's list of Pichler's glyptic works comprises no less than 379 pieces : CAMEOS. Helmeted head of Achilles; agate-chalcedony; signed : ?IX?EP; — Spread eagle flapping its wings; agate jasper; — Head of Marcus Agrippa ; — Head of Marcus Agrippa wearing turreted crown; — Agrippina, wife of Germanicus, to r., carrying the ashes of her husband; agate-onyx ; — Bust of Alexander the Great ; agate-onyx; signed : ?IX?EP; — Busts of Alexander the Great (three other varieties); — Alexander the Great, dying; head to 1. ; after the antique bust in marble at Florence; onyx; signed : ?IX?EP; — Cupid, head to 1.; signed : (?IX?EP; — Cupid chained and seated on a dice, inscribed : ?IX?EP; agate jasper; — Cupid holding a butterfly to his breast ; — Cupid, leaning against a pediment, caressing a butterfly; — Cupid holding a butterfly over a torch; cornelian-nicolo ; signed : ?IX?EP; — Cupid and Psyche; agate-chalcedony; — Cupid chaining Psyche kneeling at his feet; — Bust of Antinoüs (after the statue in the Capitol) ; agate-chalcedony ; — Antiope, with Amphion and Zethus (after the group in the Villa Albani); agate-onyx ; — Bust of Antonia, mother of Germanicus ; — Head of Apollo ; agate-onyx of three strata; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Head of Apollo; agate-jasper (after the statue in the Vatican); — Apollo, standing figure; agate-onyx; — Apollo, as a hunter; agate-onyx; signed : ?IX?EP; — Head of Arethusa; agate-onyx (after a Syracusan coin); — Head of Ariadne, diademed; — Head of Ariadne to 1., looking up; — Bacchus and Ariadne; agate-chalcedony; signed : ?IX?EP (after a modern group); — Silenos to 1. holding wine-cup, skin and club; — Head of Bacchante, wearing ivy-wreath; — Head of Bacchante, wearing laurel-wreath ; agate-onyx of four strata; — Bust of Bacchante; signed : ?IX?EP; — Bust of Britannicus, son of Tiberius Claudius and Messalina ; signed: ?IX?EP; — Laureated head of Julius Caesar ; agate-onyx; signed : ?IX?EP; — Cicero, facing bust; — Danaid advancing to r., holding vase and torch ; agate-onyx of four strata ; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Head of Diana ; agate-onyx ; — Diana huntress, with dog at her feet ; — Bust of Diogenes; agate-onyx ;— Diomedes carrying the Palladium; agate-onyx; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Drusus, son of Tiberius ; onyx (after a coin); — Boar to r. ; — Eurydice, stung by serpent; agate-onyx; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Head of Faun; agateonyx (this gem has long been considered as antique); — Female Faun eating grapes ; — Flora ; onyx of three strata (was taken for an antique); — Head of Germanicus; agate-chalcedony; signed : ?IX?EP; — Hebe and eagle ; agate-jasper ; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Hector's leave-taking of Andromache for the fight with Achilles ; signed : ?IX?ER (in the Kibaltchich collection; illustrated) ; — Head of Helen of Troy, with double diadem; cornelian-niccolo of four strata; signed : ?IX?EP; — Head of Helen, wearing Phrygian cap; agate-chalcedony; signed : ?IX?ER (illustrated); — Youthful Hercules strangling the serpents (after a painting by Annibale Caracci) ; — Head of Hercules ; agate-onyx ; signed : ?IX?ER (after the gem by Gnaios); — Hercules seated on lion's skin; agate-onyx; — Hercules standing, leaning on club; agateonyx; signed : ?IX?ER (after the statue in Naples); — Hercules slaying the horses of Diomedes ; — Hermaphrodite and the nymph Salmakis (after a painting by Annibale Caracci) ; — Head of Jupiter Sarapis, wearing modius; — Head of Justitia; onyx (after the original in the Vatican); — Head of the philosopher Karneades; signed : ???OV; — Leda and the Swan; signed : ?IX?EP; — — Lucilla, consort of Lucius Verus; agate-onyx (after an antique); — Bust of Luna, wearing Phrygian cap decorated with stars; — Head of Lysimachus ; agate-onyx; signed : ?IX?EP (after a coin) ; — Head of Maecenas, to 1. ; — Head of Maecenas, to r. ; — Head of Medusa, three-quarter face, in high relief ; — Melpomene ; agateonyx (after the statue in the Vatican) ; — Head of Mercury, wearing petasos ; — Mercury, Hebe and Cupid ; — Helmeted head of Minerva; agate-onyx; signed : ?IX?EP (after a coin); — Helmeted head of Mercury to 1., helmet adorned with laurel-wreath; agate-onyx; — Hygiaea feeding serpent entwined around altar; beside, Abundantia ; — Athene Promachos; sardonyx of three strata (formerly in the Marlborough collection); — Head of Mithridates; agate-onyx ; (after a bas-relief in the Capitol) ; — Head of Niobe; agate-onyx ; signed : ?IX?ER (after an antique statue at Florence) ; — Octavia, consort of Nero; agate-chalcedony (after the antique); — Orpheus and Eurydice ; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Pan, seated on a skin and playing the syrinx; agate-onyx; — Head of Paris, to 1.; signed : ?IX?EP; — Small head of Paris, to 1. ; onyx ; — Bust of Poppaea, consort of Nero (after the antique) ; — Head of Psyche, to r., signed : ?IX?EP; — Head of Psyche, to r. ; — Head of Psyche; cornelian-niccolo ; — Psyche, on her knees, in the attitude of grief; agate-jasper; signed : ?IX?EP; — Head of Ptolemy; agate-onyx; — Head of Sappho; signed : ?IX?EP; — Head of Sappho, laureated; signed : ?IX?EP; — Head of Sappho, to 1. ; agate-jasper; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Head of Sappho; agate-onyx ; — Bust of Sappho to 1.; hair in sakkos; onyx; signed : ? (in the Vienna Museum) ; — Semiramis ; agate-jasper ; — Head of Seneca, to 1. ; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Socrates ; agate-onyx (has been considered as antique); — Bust of Solon; agate-chalcedony (after an antique); — Terpsichore ; agate-onyx ; signed : ?IX?EP; — Head of Tiberius; — Head of Trajan ; — Tuccia, a Vestal virgin ; agateonyx; — Tuccia, to r. ; agate-onyx; signed : ?IX?EP; — Bust of Ulysses; agate-onyx (has been held as antique); — Bust of Ulysses ; agate-onyx; signed : ?IX?EP; — Venus, after her bath, draping herself; onyx; — Venus rising from her bath; — Venus and Cupid ; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Bust of Venus ; — Head of Vespasian ; signed : ?IX?EP; — Laureated head of Vespasian; agate-chalcedony (after the antique) ; — Head of Vestal virgin ; — Vestal virgin walking ; agate-onyx ; — Vestal virgin kneeling ; beside, a lamb, &c. INTAGLIOS. Achilles dragging after him the body of Hector; — Aeschyles ; cornelian (a masterpiece) ; — Bust of Aesculapius ; sardonyx; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Bust of Aesculapius to r., laureated; sard ; — Agrippina seated before the urn containing the ashes of Germanicus; cornelian; signed: ?IX?EP (after the statue in the Museo Farnese at Rome); — Another, smaller; — Agrippina seated ; cornelian; signed: ?IX?ER (after the statue in Naples) ; — Bust of Ajax ; sard ; signed : ?IX?ER (after the marble bust in the Vatican); — Head of Alexander the Great; signed: ?IX?EP; — Fragment of a bust of Alexander the Great; — Bust of Antinous ; chrysoprase; signed: ?IX?EP; — Bust of Antinous; sard; signed: ?IX?ER (after the marble statue in the Capitol) ; — Antinous standing to 1. ; signed: ?IX?EP; — Apollo, nude, standing on a base; — Head of Apollo, to r. (after the antique); — Bust of Apollo; signed: ?IX?ER (after a bust in the Vatican); — Apollo advancing to 1. ; signed : ?IX?EP (after the statue in the Vatican); — Apollo leaning against a column; chalcedony ; signed: ?IX?EP; — Apollo; chalcedony ; — Apollo leaning against trunk of tree ; chalcedony ; signed : ?IX?ER (after a statue in Florence); — Apollo and Hyacinthus; signed : ?IX?EP; — Head of Ariadne, to r. ; cornelian; signed: ?IX?EP (after a marble in the Capitol); — Head of Ariadne, to 1. ; sard; — Ariadne seated on a rock ; Cupid at her side, weeping; signed : ?IX?EP; — Artemisia seated holding urn; sard; signed: ?IX?EP (after an antique gem); — Head of Augustus ; cornelian ; signed : ?IX?EP (after an antique marble) ; — Aurora and Cephalus; — Atalante, holding the golden apple; signed: ?IX?EP; — Head of Bacchante; — Bust of Bacchante, with right breast uncovered; signed: ?IX?EP; — Bacchante holding thyrsus; sard; — Dancing Bacchante; signed:- ?IX?EP ; — Bacchante, drunk, to r., holding patera and thyrsus; signed : ?IX?EP (after the antique) ; — Small figure of Bacchante emptying a vase ; — Bust of Bacchante, beside a Term ; — Bacchante, in ecstasy, kneeling on altar before Term; — Bacchante, nude, dancing before a Term, and holding a dagger to her mouth ; — Blacat, an Englishman ; cornelian; — Head of Brutus ; sard; signed: ?IX?EP; — Head of Brutus; cornelian (after an antique marble); — Bulgaria, as a conquered Roman province; sard; signed: ?IX?EP; — The same representation, smaller; cornelian; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Quintus Lutatius Catulus, consul; head to 1. ; — Centaur, with Cupid riding on his back; sard; signed: ?IX?EP (after a marble —statue in the Villa Borghese ; in commission for Prince Kaunitz); Centaur and Cupid ; chrysoprase; signed: ?IX?EP; — Head of Clement XIV. ; — Bust of Cleopatra, to r., with the snake; cornelian ; signed : ?IX?EP; — Clio; smaragd; — Clio seated on a stool ; chalcedony (after an antique) ; — Clio seated, reading ; signed : ? ; — Head of Cupid ; — Cupid catching a butterfly ; — Cupid striking a butterfly with a whip ; — Cupid seated on a rock and holding a myrtle-wreath on which a butterfly; cornelian; signed: ?IX?EP ; — Cupid; a variety ; cornelian ; — Cupid riding on Pegasus; agate; signed: ?IX?EP (after a marble statue in the Villa Borghese) ; — Cupid on hippocamp; sard; signed: ?IX?EP (after a marble statue in the Villa Albani); — Another, a variety; — Cupid bending his bow; sard; signed: ?IX?EP (after a painting by Parmegianino); — Cupid resting on a scythe; signed: ?IX?EP (after an antique cameo); — Another, smaller; — Cupid and Psyche embracing; signed: ?IX?EP; — Another; unsigned; — Cupid and Psyche embracing; cornelian ; signed : ?IX?EP (after a marble group in the Capitol) ; — Cupid and Psyche, standing, embracing; onyx; signed: ?IX?EP ; — Dacia, represented as a conquered Roman province ; cornelian (after a marble relief in the Capitol); — Danae, asleep; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Head of Diana, to r. ; cornelian (has been taken for an antique); — Another, similar, unfinished ; — Diana, standing to r., holding bow and arrow; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Diana, advancing rapidly ; — Dido, abandoned by Aeneas, and Cupid in tears; chalcedony (after a painting from Herculaneum) ; — Diomedes carrying off the Palladium ; sard; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Discobolus; sard ; — Erato seated on chair; in front of her an urn and wreath; — Head of Euripides; — Euterpe leaning against column, holding double flute; green plasma; signed: ? (after a ' consular' coin); — Faun and Lute player ; sard (after an antique marble vase in the Villa Borghese) ; — Female Faun carrying youthful Bacchus; — Fortuna ; chalcedony (after the antique) ; — Portrait of a Lady ; hyacinth ; signed : ?IX?ER ; — Galatea standing on shell drawn by two dolphins (Venus marina) ; sard ; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Ganymedes carried up by eagle; signed: ?IX?EP; — Bust of Genius ; sard ; signed: ?IX?EP (after a marble in the Vatican); — St. George killing the Dragon onyx; — Gladiator; onyx; — Gladiator, in fighting attitude niccolo ; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Gladiator, rushing forward ; sard; signed: (?IX?EP (after a marble statue in the Villa Borghese); — Dying Gladiator , sard; signed: ?IX?EP (after a marble statue in the Capitol); — The three Graces; cornelian (after the antique); — The three Graces, nude; signed: ?IX?EP; — The three Graces, the middle one nude, the two others clothed ; signed: ?IX?ER (after an antique vase); — Group of three figures; cornelian (after an antique vase); — Harpocrates, seated on lotus flower with Apis bull, on Nile barge ; — Hebe, floating in the air, filling a cup; signed: ?IX?EP ; — Hebe, seated, and filling the eagle's cup; signed: ?IX?EP ; — Hebe holding the cup to the eagle; cornelian (after a painting by Hamilton); — Hector, kneeling, bending over Patroclus (2 varieties); — Head of Hercules; sard (after Gnaios); — Head of Hercules; beside, a club; cornelian; signed: ?IX?EP ; — Hercules carrying globe and standing on another ; sard ; — Youthful Hercules strangling the serpents; — Hercules slaying the boar; beside, a tree; — Hercules crushing the Nemean lion ; onyx (after an antique gem); — Hercules crushing the lion; signed: ?I?HMONOC and ? ; — Hercules, kneeling, carrying the globe on his shoulders; — Hercules and Penthesilea; — Hercules holding the sinking Penthesilea ; — Hercules Bibax ; — Hercules, resting, seated on skin ; signed : A?M?N ; — The Farnese Hercules ; chalcedon; signed: ?IX?EP; — Hermaphrodite, standing, nude, and admiring himself; — Hermaphrodite, seated ; at his feet, Cupid in attitude of grief; — Hermaphrodite lying on a mattress ; cornelian ; signed : ?IX?EP (after a marble statue in the Villa Borghese ; in commission for Lord Percy) ; — Hermaphrodite wrestling with the nymph Salmakis; chalcedony; signed : ?IX?EP (after a painting by Annibale Caracci); — Head of Homer; cornelian (after the Farnese bust); — Bust of Homer (after an antique bust at Naples); — Head of Iole; cornelian (after an antique) ; — Head of Isis; — Bust of Joseph II.; chalcedony (cut on commission for Countess Schuwalow during the Emperor's visit at Rome in 1769); — Juno, enthroned; beside, a peacock; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Jupiter, standing, holding thunderbolt and skin of the goat Amalthea; at his feet, an eagle; — Kallirhoë, as victim of the Bacchus priest Koresos; — Another, smaller ; signed : ?IX?EP; — Korybante; cornelian (after a paste in the Florence Museum); — Warrior leading horse to drink; Indian sard (after an ancient gem ; in the Pulszky collection) ; — Head of Laocoon ; — Leander swimming across to Hero's tower ; with Etruscan border; — Count Lechi, of Milan ; agate ; — Leda and the swan ; cornelian ; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Leda and the swan; cornelian; — Leda, seated, and the swan ; beside, a tree; cornelian ; — Leda, seated, embracing the swan with both arms; sard ; signed : ?IX?EP; — Leda and the swan ; dark sard ; signed : ? (formerly in the Marlborough collection); — Leda and the swan, seated on a rock; cornelian; signed: ?IX?ER (2 var.); — Leukothea; diademed head to 1. ; cornelian; signed : ?IX?EP; — Head of Leukothea with diadem and vine-wreath; — Head of Livia; — Lion devouring bull; signed: ?IX?EP ; — Head of Lysimachus ; cornelian; signed: ?IX?EP; — Head of Maecenas ; — Mars, resting; sard; signed: ?IX?EP (after the marble statue in the Villa Ludovisi); — Mars and Venus embracing; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Mask; sard; signed : ? ; — Comic Mask, with the inscription : ?ICIC; cornelian; — Head of Medusa, almost facing; onyx-niccolo; — Head of Medusa ; sard ; after the celebrated gem by Solonos ; signed : ?IX?EP; — Melpomene, leaning against column; cornelian; — Melpomene, to r., holding torch; — Head of Mercury; — Mercury riding on ram, and holding caduceus; chalcedony; — Mercury standing on a basis, holding caduceus and skin ; — Mercury; signed : ?IX?EP (after the statue in Florence) ; — Mercury, holding patera, out of which a butterfly is drinking; beside, a caduceus ; — Mercury, holding caduceus, and placing his right hand on his mouth; signed: ?IX?EP; — Mercury, holding caduceus in r. hand, and in the left a ram's head on discus; chalcedony; signed: ?IX?EP (after the gem by Dioscorides) ; — Minerva medica, standing; sard ; signed : ?IX?EP (after an antique candelabrum bas-relief in the Vatican); — Minerva medica, standing; cornelian (after an antique statue in the Giustiniani Palace) ; — Muse ; cornelian (after an antique) ; — Muse, leaning against column, her head sunk in her hand; agate; signed: ?IX?EP ; — Nemesis ; sard ; — Neptune, holding trident, and stepping on prow of galley; Etruscan border; — Laureated head of Nero; cornelian; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Laur. head of Nero; sard (after an antique) ; — Head of Omphale ; cornelian ; signed : ?IX?EP; — Head of Omphale, also wearing the lion's skin; sard ; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Head of Omphale, wearing lion's skin; signed: ?IX?EP; — Omphale, holding club; signed: ?IX?EP; — Omphale, advancing to r., holding club; signed : ?IX?EP; — Offering of Pan and Aesculapius; cornelian; signed: ?IX?EP; — Offering to the god Terminus; sard; — Offering to the goddess Salus; cornelian ; — Portrait of Marquis d'Orcasittas ; cornelian; — Pan, running, blowing the syrinx; — Pan, seated on goat's skin, holding double flute; — Papirius and his mother; chalcedony; signed: ?IX?EP (after a marble statue in the Villa Ludovisi); — A variety, in cornelian; — Head of Paris ; white sard; signed : ?IX?EP; — Head of Paris; cornelian (in commission for Lady Spencer) ; — Head of Paris, wearing ornamented bonnet ; — Pastor fido, seated on rock and drawing a thorn out of his foot (after a statue in the Capitol) ; — Peleus washing his hair (in the Pulszky collection) ; — Bust of Perseus; — Perseus and Andromeda ; cornelian ; signed : ?IX?EP (after the group in the Capitol); — Perseus and Andromeda; rock crystal (after an antique bas-relief in the Capitol); — Pindar; — Head of Pius VII. ; — Head of Phocion ; cornelian ; — Head of Phocion; signed: CKY??OC; — Polyhymnia; chalcedony (in commission for Sir William Hamilton); — Offering to Priapus; cornelian (after an antique in the Paris Cabinet); — Term of Priapus being adorned by two nymphs; — Priest, holding pitcher; — Bust of Psyche ; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Head of Psyche; oriental topaz (after an antique); — Bust of Psyche; cornelian; signed: ?IX?EP; — Bust of Psyche, to 1., looking down; signed: ?IX?EP; — Psyche, holding pitcher, and Cupid, blowing double flute; cornelian ; signed: ?IX?EP (after Angelica Kauffmann); — Bust of Raphael ; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Head of Regulus ; — Head of Caius Antius Restio; cornelian ; — Helmeted head of Roma; cornelian ; signed : ?IX?EP; — Head of Quintus Pompeius Rufus; sard ; — Salus; cornelian; signed: ?IX?EP; — Head of Sappho; cornelian; signed: ?IX?EP; — Another; sard; — Another, smaller; sard; — Another; with laurel- wreath bound with string of pearls; signed : ?IX?EP; — Saturn, holding scythe; — Saturn, holding serpent, the emblem of eternity; — Satyr pursuing a Bacchante; signed : ?IX?EP; — Satyr, dancing, and playing the syrinx; cornelian; — Satyr catching hold of a nymph from behind and kissing her ; amethyst; signed: ?IX?EP (after a painting from Herculaneum, in the Naples museum); — Satyr, in a state of intoxication, seated on a rock, and asleep; sard; signed: ?IX?EP ;— Semiramis, handing sceptre to Ninyas ; agate; — Head of Septimius Severus, to r. ; — Head of Silenos, wearing ivy-wreath ; signed : Y??OV ; — Silenos holding thyrsus; at his feet, an amphora; — Silenos blowing the double flute; — Silenos carrying youthful Bacchus; — Dancing girl ; cornelian (after a painting from Herculaneum); — Dancing girl, holding veil over her head ; amethyst ; signed : ?IX?EP (after an ancient painting); — Dancing girl, playing on the lyre; sard; signed : ?IX?EP; — Dancing girl, playing cymbals; cornelian; signed: ?IX?EP (from a painting by Caracci in the Palazzo Farnese) ; — Terpsichore, leaning against column, holding lyre ; — Thalia, holding sword and mask ; — Theseus, finding his father's sword under a rock ; sard ; — Theseus, in front of the gate of the Labyrinth where he has slain the Minotaur (after the gem by Philemon ; illustrated) ; — Thetis ; sard ; — Head of Tiberius; signed: ?IX?EP ; — Tuccia, a Vestal virgin; signed: ?IX?EP; — Tuccia, as before, holding simpulum; chalcedony; signed : ? ; — Tuccia ; cornelian ; — Urania; sard; signed : ?IX?ER (after a " consular" denarius, of the Pomponia gens); — Another, a variety ; sard; signed: ?IX?EP; — Venus, nude, standing on a basis; signed : ?IX?EP (3 var.) ; — Venus Anadyomene; hyacinth ; — Venus, slightly draped (2 var.); — The Venus de' Medici; cornelian; — Another; chalcedony; — Venus; signed : ?IX?EP (after the Florence marble statue) (2 var.); — Venus, nude,, admiring herself; — Venus callipyga ; cornelian ; signed : ?IX?EP (after the statue in the Farnese Museum) ; — Venus callipyga, in a different attitude ; amethyst ; signed : ?IX?EP (3 var.); — Venus rising from the bath ; signed : ?IX?EP (from the marble statue in the Vatican) ; — Venus, placing her 1. foot on vase, and holding drapery in 1. hand ; signed: ?IX?EP; — Venus covering her breast with drapery; signed: ?IX?EP ; — Venus pouring water from a vase over her head ; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Venus, seated, drying herself after the bath ; sard ; — Venus, almost kneeling, reaching a patera ; — Venus marina, standing on shell, drawn by two dolphins ; signed : ?IX?EP ; — Venus arising out of the water, her arms over her head; — Venus, with raised skirt, holding a bird (known also as ' Innocency '); cornelian ; signed : ?IX?EP; — Venus, hunting; yellow sard; — Venus, in reclining attitude; chalcedony ; signed : ?IX?EP (after the painting by Titian, at Florence); — Venus terrestris; sard; signed: ?IX?EP; — Venus victrix; sard; signed: ?IX?EP (after the marble group in the Villa Borghese); — Lucius Verus; cornelian (after the statue in the Villa Borghese; in commission for Sir William Hamilton); — Victory; — Victoria navalis; sard (in commission for General Schuwalow) ; — Bust of Virgil, &c. Beside these, Giovanni Pichler executed a number of Portraitcameos and intaglios, some of which cannot now be identified. A series of plaster casts of these exists in the Vienna Imperial Cabinet. Raspe, Tassie Gems, further describes some productions of Antonio and Giovanni Pichler, which are not mentioned in Dr Rollett's work. Amongst these are : Sphinx seated with a butterfly on the axle-tree in the circle of a serpent; — Atys; cameo signed : ?IX?EP ; — The Ephesian Diana within a temple ; — Cupid riding on sealion ; — Venus reproaching Cupid ; — Amphitheatre with spectators; — Apotheosis of Titus; — Prometheus, gnawed by the vulture ; — Copy of the famous ' Portland ' Vase ; — Hercules strangling the lion (one of Giovanni's earlier works, executed when he was only fourteen years old) ; — Hercules taming the bull (executed at the age of seventeen) ; — Achilles dragging the body of Hector out of the walls of Troy (repeated at least a dozen times) ; — Cameo, from a statue by Guglielmo della Porta, of the monument of Pope Paul III., in St. Peter's Church at Rome. "This artist ", says King " must be declared the greatest proficient of his age, unless indeed Rega be equalled with him, in the art of engraving in intaglio... His works were often sold by the dealers as antiques of the first order. To prevent this fraud he ever afterwards signed his works with his name in full, in delicate Greek capitals, ?IX?EP". On his early death, the art world of Rome joined with his family in mourning over " Il celebre Giovanni Pikler" and "Artifice di sempre gloriosa memoria". His biographer writes : "Sprechen wir nun von Giovanni Pichler's Styl, so lasst sich dieser mit den zwei Worten : einfach und grossartig ausdrücken ; denn diese beiden Eigenschaften findet man mehr oder weniger in jedem seiner Werke : und dies ist nicht wenig, wenn man weiss, dass in diesen Eigenschaften hauptsächlich das Schöne und Wunderbare in den Arbeiten dieser Art der Kunst beruht, und wegen welcher die ausgezeichneten antiken und modernen Werke der Gemmoglyptik so sehr geschätzt werden. Betrachtet man die Sache genauer, so unterscheiden sich die Arbeiten Giovanni Pichler's durch etwas ganz Eigenes, durch eine nur ihm zukömmliche Art, in welcher er z. B. Kopfhaare in Masse reizend darstellt und mit ein paar freien Strichen deren Feinheit andeutet, in welcher er dem leicht geschlossenen Munde eine edle Grazie, den Augen eine wunderschöne Form zu geben weiss. Dazu kommt eine höchst correcte Zeichnung, eine Kraft und Energie des Schnittes, ein mit Gefühl und Tüchtigkeit ausgeführtes Basrelief, im classischen, harmonisch-hohen Geist der Alten" (Rollett, op. cit., p. 21). The same writer continues (p. 22) : " Wenn man die Werke Giovanni Pichler's im Ganzen betrachtet, mit ihrer Wahrheit, mit ihrem charakteristischen Ausdruck, mit ihrer Bewegung, so mangeln fast die Worte, so viele höchste Schönheit und einfache Grazie zu beschreiben, und die Bezeichnung für die Bewunderung der Technik zu finden, die in ihrer Reinheit und Schärfe so glänzend war, dass er sich auch dadurch vor alien neueren Künstlern auszeichnete, und ihm keiner an die Seite gestellt werden konnte. Breit in der Anlage, entwickelt er die Formen vollkommen plastisch, mit völliger Belebung. Zugleich gab er seinen Steinen eine denen der antiken Künstler nicht nachstehende Politur. Aus seinen stets mit harmonischer Empfindung gezeichneten Werken wird ersichtlich, dass er sich tief in den Geist seiner antiken Vorbilder einstudirte, daher ihn auch alle Kunstfreunde und Kenner ungemein hochschätzten, die durch Winckelmann auf den Werth und die Würde der antiken Gemmoglyptik aufmerksam gemacht worden waren. " There are various portraits of John Pichler; one by Mastrellini was reproduced in the enamel paste of the Tassies. Between 1776 and 1791, Pichler cut, after his own drawings, the Stanzas of Raphael, but was unable to finish the work. Bibliography. — Rossi, Giovanni Pichler, 1792. — Rollett, Die drei Meister der Gemmo-glyptik, Antonio, Giovanni u. Luigi Pichler, Wien, 1874. — Babelon, La Gravure en pierres fines, 1894. — Mariette, Traité, &c. — Bolzenthal, op. cit. — J. M. Gray, James and William Tassie, 1884. — Murr, Journal, VIII, 5. — Catalogo d'impronti cavati da gemme incise dal Cavaliere Giovanni Pichler, incisore di Sua Maesta C?sarea Giuseppe Il., 1790.

Source: Biographical dictionary of medallists; coin, gem, and seal-engravers, mint-masters, ancient and modern, with references to their works B.C. 500-A.D. 1900; compiled by L. Forrer, London 1904