Gaspard de Coligny, Admiral of France
1550–91
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
sheet: 14 7/16 x 10 11/16 in. (36.7 x 27.1 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1943
Accession Number
43.4
Tags
Art Historical Context
This striking etching portrays Gaspard de Coligny, renowned Admiral of France, captured by the skilled hand of Jost Amman (1539–1591), Swiss-German artist celebrated for his intricate woodcuts and prints during the Renaissance. Produced sometime between 1550 and1591, the work measures 14 7/16 x 10 11/16 inches and exemplifies Amman's mastery in the emerging medium of etching—a technique that used acid to bite fine lines into metal plates, allowing for unprecedented detail and tonal subtlety compared to earlier woodcuts. Coligny (1519–1572) was a pivotal figure in 16th-century France, a Protes...
About the Artist
Jost Amman · 1539–1591
Jost Amman (1539–1591) was a Swiss-born woodcut designer, engraver, and illustrator who became one of the most prolific and influential graphic artists of sixteenth-century Germany, producing an output of extraordinary range and technical virtuosity that shaped the visual culture of the later Reformation era. Born in Zurich, Amman moved to Nuremberg around 1560, the city that had been the center o...