Sea Battle
c. 1532
Medium
Engraving in black on cream laid paper
Dimensions
24.1 × 39.9 cm (9 1/2 × 15 3/4 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
111278
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
A prolific printmaker and print designer, known only by the small die with which he signed his prints, the Master of the Die was an artist in the orbit of Raphael’s student Marcantonio Raimondi. The Sea Battle serves as a prime example of the revival of Classical style during the Renaissance, as well as an example of the subject matter and designs used for architectural decoration. The mythological scenes on the hulls of the boats suggest simplified, fictive reliefs after the Antique, and could ...
About the Artist
Master of the Die · 1525–1560
**Master of the Die** (fl. 1525–1560) was an anonymous Italian engraver and printmaker active primarily in Rome during the mid-16th century. Named for the distinctive small die he used to sign his prints—a tiny emblematic mark that became his moniker—this elusive artist remains unidentified despite scholarly proposals linking him to figures like Benedetto Verino, Giovanni Francesco Zabello, Tommas...