Virgin and Child with Saint John
1575
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate/sheet: 27.5 × 20.4 cm (10 7/8 × 8 1/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
80018
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Diana Mantuano was the only female Renaissance engraver to sign her prints, as well as the only one to be mentioned by Giorgio Vasari in his 1568 Lives of the Artists. Born into an artist family, she learned printmaking by copying the paintings and prints of other artists, including her father, Giovanni Battista Mantuano. She made this engraving in Rome the same year she moved there and received a papal privilege protecting her prints from copyists. Her plates were evidently deemed valuable, as ...