Venus and Cupid
1510/12
Medium
Engraving printed in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image/plate: 20.4 × 8.2 cm (8 1/16 × 3 1/4 in.); Sheet: 22.1 × 10.1 cm (8 3/4 × 4 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
111554
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Both of the figures in Marcantonio Raimondi’s Venus and Cupid are nude. Yet the playful, loving rapport between mother and son mark this print as not so dissimilar from Marcantonio’s depictions of the Madonna and Child. The artist’s isolated treatment of the mythological pair in this shadowy niche suggests that they could also be meant to be sculptures. That conceit was often used in black-and-white grisaille paintings on the back of altar wings for pared-down New Testament scenes such as the An...
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...