Venus Ordering Psyche to Seek Water From a Fountain Guarded by Dragons
1530/40
Medium
Engraving in warm brown ink on ivory laid paper, attached to ivory laid paper along right margin
Dimensions
Image/primary support cut within platemark: 16.7 × 22.1 cm (6 5/8 × 8 3/4 in.); Sheet, with attached sheet at right: 16.7 × 30.2 cm (6 5/8 × 11 15/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
158200
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...