Venus Pricked by the Thorns of a Rose Bush; Cupid Asleep in the Foreground
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
sheet: 12 1/8 x 8 3/8 in. (30.8 x 21.3 cm) within platemark
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Harry G. Friedman, 1962
Accession Number
62.635.607
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the mid-16th century, during the height of the Mannerist movement, Italian engraver Giorgio Ghisi created *Venus Pricked by the Thorns of a Rose Bush; Cupid Asleep in the Foreground* after a design by Luca Penni, a painter linked to Raphael's circle and the Fontainebleau school. Dated 1556, this exquisite engraving measures 12 1/8 x 8 3/8 inches and captures a whimsical yet poignant mythological moment. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, it was a gift from Harry G. Friedman in 1962. The scene unfolds in a lush, wooded setting with trees framing the c...
About the Artist
Giorgio Ghisi|Luca Penni · 1520–1582
Giorgio Ghisi (c. 1520–1582) was one of the most accomplished engravers of the Italian Renaissance, renowned for translating the monumental compositions of Raphael, Giulio Romano, and Michelangelo into the exacting medium of the burin. Born in Mantua, he trained in an environment shaped by the legacy of Giulio Romano's decoration of the Palazzo del Te, and the grandeur of that Mannerist tradition ...