Ferdinand Gonzaga
Unknown Artist
1776 to 1800
Medium
engraving
Dimensions
plate: 17 × 12.5 cm (6 11/16 × 4 15/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1950.14.544
Art Historical Context
Welcome to the National Gallery of Art's enchanting world of 18th-century prints! This delicate engraving, titled *Ferdinand Gonzaga* and created by an unknown artist between 1776 and 1800, captures the noble visage of its namesake in a compact plate measuring just 17 × 12.5 cm. Housed in the museum's Rosenwald Collection—a treasure trove of graphic arts—this small-scale work exemplifies the era's fascination with historical and aristocratic portraiture. Engraving, the medium here, involved incising fine lines into a metal plate with a burin, inking it, and pressing paper to transfer the imag...