Apollo on Parnassus, Surrounded by the Muses and Poets
1517/20
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
35.8 × 47.2 cm (14 1/8 × 18 5/8 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
51520
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Famous artworks replicated in print became more famous with each copy. While Marcantonio Raimondi was sued by Albrecht Dürer for illegally copying his woodcuts, he worked directly with Raphael to create printed versions of the master’s paintings and drawings for dissemination. The fresco of Apollo on Parnassus would have been inaccessible even to buyers who could afford this large print, as it was in Pope Julius II’s personal library in the Vatican. The engraving explicitly mentions this; the in...
About the Artist
Marcantonio Raimondi · 1475–1534
Marcantonio Raimondi (c. 1480–1534), born near Bologna, Italy, emerged as one of the Renaissance's premier engravers, revolutionizing printmaking through his mastery of reproductive techniques. He trained in the workshop of the goldsmith, painter, and niellist Francesco Francia, whose influence is evident in his early engravings, such as the goldsmith-like shading in *Pyramus and Thisbe* (1505), h...