Phyllis holding a lamb

Art Historical Context

This stipple engraving, titled *Phyllis Holding a Lamb* and dated 1782, represents a collaborative effort between the Italian painter Carlo Dolci and the German engraver Heinrich Sintzenich. Dolci, renowned for his meticulous Baroque style and devotional imagery, likely created the original composition, which Sintzenich then translated into print form. The result captures a tender pastoral scene of a young woman cradling a lamb, evoking themes of innocence, care, and rural simplicity that resonated with 18th-century audiences. Stipple engraving, the medium used here, involves building images through countless tiny dots rather than lines, allowing for soft tonal effects and delicate textures. This technique was especially valued in the late 1700s for reproducing paintings and making art more widely accessible beyond elite collectors. Printed on a sheet measuring about 13 15/16 by 9 1/4 inches, the work now resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Drawings and Prints department as part of the Elisha Whittelsey Collection. The subject draws on longstanding European traditions of pastoral imagery, blending gentle sentiment with refined detail to appeal to viewers interested in both classical motifs and everyday virtue.