Metamorphoseon sive transformationum
1606
Medium
etching
Dimensions
104; 117
About this artwork
height 104 mm x width 117 mm
Art Historical Context
Antonio Tempesta's *Metamorphoseon s transformationum* (1606) is a captivating etching from a renowned series of 150 plates illustrating Ovid's *Metamorphoses*, the ancient Roman epic of mythological transformations. Created during the early Baroque period in Italy, Tempesta, a prolific Florentine artist (1555–1630), drew on classical antiquity to fuel the era's fascination with dramatic narratives of gods, heroes, and shape-shifting mortals. This small-scale work (104 × 117 mm) exemplifies how prints democratized high art, allowing collectors across Europe to own vivid scenes from Ovid withou...
About the Artist
Antonio Tempesta · 1555–1630
Antonio Tempesta (1555–1630), known as 'Il Tempestino,' was a Florentine painter and printmaker whose extraordinary output of approximately 1,700 etchings made him one of the most influential printmakers of the early Baroque period. Born in Florence and trained under Santi di Tito and the Flemish master Joannes Stradanus, he enrolled in the Accademia del Disegno in 1576 before relocating to Rome i...