Diana and Endymion
Nicolas LeSueur (French, 1691–1764)
mid-1700s
Medium
chiaroscuro woodcut
Dimensions
image: 44.7 × 31.1 cm · sheet: 62.1 × 44.7 cm
Classification
Department
Prints
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Charles W. Harkness Endowment Fund
Accession Number
1923.1054
Tags
male
About this artwork
Chiaroscuro drawings were executed on paper colored a middle tone. While black or brown wash was used to create shadows, white gouache (opaque watercolor) was used for highlights. In the early 16th century, German printmakers developed a method to achieve similar effects using woodcut. The outline of the image is printed in black from one block of wood, while the shadows are printed from a second block in a color. For Diana and Endymion, two blocks were used to print two shades of green. The whi...