Ornament Panel with Mars, God of Battles
c. 1507
Medium
Engraving on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image/plate: 26.4 × 12.8 cm (10 7/16 × 5 1/16 in.); Sheet: 26.5 × 13.3 cm (10 7/16 × 5 1/4 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
23380
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This ornamental image consisting of loosely connected motifs is part of a series of four grotteschi. The grotesque style became popular in Rome in the late 15th century. Its name comes from the word grotto, used to describe the wall decorations on the Golden House of the Roman emperor Nero, which had only recently been rediscovered underground. This work combines symbols of warfare and triumph. Mars, the Roman god of war, is crowned with wreaths by winged Victories. Captives, armor, and satyrs a...
About the Artist
Nicoletto da Modena · 1500–1520
Nicoletto da Modena was an Italian engraver active in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, one of the most prolific and stylistically eclectic printmakers of the early Italian Renaissance. The details of his biography remain uncertain — his precise birth and death dates are unknown, and he is identified primarily through the body of prints that bear his name or monogram. He appears to...