Trajan Crowned by Victory
1520/25
Medium
Engraving printed in black on paper
Dimensions
29.3 × 44.1 cm (11 9/16 × 17 3/8 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
111555
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Marcantonio Raimondi was an engraver who worked from drawings under the direction of Raphael, among other artists. He derived this print, however, from a bas-relief on the Arch of Constantine celebrating the Roman Emperor Trajan’s 105/06 A.D. victory over the Dacians (from an area now encompassing Romania). The friezelike shape of the composition and the depth of the visual field mimic that shallow type of sculpture, while celebrating Rome’s historical past at a moment just before the 1527 sack ...
About the Artist
Marcantonio Raimondi · 1475–1534
Marcantonio Raimondi (c. 1480–1534), born near Bologna, Italy, emerged as one of the Renaissance's premier engravers, revolutionizing printmaking through his mastery of reproductive techniques. He trained in the workshop of the goldsmith, painter, and niellist Francesco Francia, whose influence is evident in his early engravings, such as the goldsmith-like shading in *Pyramus and Thisbe* (1505), h...