Diana
ca. 1538–40 (?)
Medium
Etching
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1927
Accession Number
27.78.2(117)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold the captivating etching *Diana*, created around 1538–40 by Venetian artist Andrea Schiavone (Andrea Meldola), a masterful innovator in early printmaking. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, this work—acquired through the Harris Brisbane Dick Fund in 1927—exemplifies Schiavone's pioneering use of etching, a technique he helped popularize in Venice during the Mannerist era. Unlike the rigid lines of traditional engraving, etching allowed Schiavone's fluid, expressive strokes to mimic the spontaneity of drawing, bridging painting and print. The subje...
About the Artist
Andrea Schiavone (Andrea Meldola) · 1510–1563
Andrea Schiavone, born Andrea Meldolla around 1510 or 1515 in Zara (modern Zadar, Croatia), in Venetian-ruled Dalmatia, hailed from a family rooted in Meldola near Forlì in Romagna, Emilia-Romagna. His father, Simon Meldolla, served as a garrison commander there, and both parents originated from Meldola, where the family held property into the early 16th century. Nicknamed "Schiavone"—"the Slav"—a...