# Antonio Tempesta artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/antonio-tempesta/
Profile generated: 2026-05-18T19:31:37.206Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Death date: 1630-08-05
- Nationality: Italian
- Movements: Baroque
- Common media: etching, engraving, painting, drawing

## About Antonio Tempesta

Antonio Tempesta (1555–1630), also known as il Tempestino, was a Florentine painter, engraver, etcher, and draftsman whose prolific graphic output bridged Baroque Rome and the artistic culture of Antwerp. Active in Rome for most of his career, Tempesta produced an extensive body of etchings and engravings that depicted battle scenes, hunting parties, classical mythology, and historical subjects. His prints circulated widely across Europe and influenced both Italian and Northern European artists. Tempesta trained in Florence and absorbed late-Mannerist conventions before establishing himself in Rome, where he received commissions for frescoes and decorative cycles in palaces and churches. His work is held in major museum and library print collections worldwide.

## Common works and media

Tempesta's most commonly encountered works at auction are etchings and engravings, particularly series depicting battles, hunts, animals, biblical narratives, and mythological scenes after Ovid. Individual prints, bound series, and sets of varying completeness appear regularly. Painted works, including fresco fragments and oil-on-canvas battle or landscape compositions, are rarer. Drawings in pen, ink, and wash are also known but require careful attribution.

## Market and appraisal context

Antonio Tempesta is most frequently encountered at auction as an Old Master printmaker. His etchings and engravings—especially battle scenes, hunting subjects, and series of Old Testament and Ovidian narratives—appear regularly in print sales. Impression quality, plate state, margins, paper condition, and rarity of the specific series are the primary valuation factors. Paintings and fresco studies by Tempesta are less common at auction and typically command higher prices when they carry secure attribution. Collectors should be aware that many workshop and follower works exist, and drawings require specialist authentication.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from authority files and institutional records with auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lot data when those records are available. For Antonio Tempesta, identity and biographical data are grounded in Getty ULAN, RKD, VIAF, and Wikidata authority records.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q605447
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Tempesta
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500027888
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/73935201/
- RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/76766
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n86119084