Printmaker of the 16th century

Diana Scultori (Italian, about 1547-1612)
Latona giving birth to Apollo and Diana on the Island of Delos, n.d.
after Giulio Romano, Italian, 1499-1546
engraving

Image and owner: New York Public Library

I discovered this print and the artist through the catalog for the exhibition, Women in Print: Female Printmakers 1500-1800 (Ball State University Museum of Art). I am simply taken with the discovery of an exhibition and study into unknown and lesser known women artists. The date in and of itself is fantastic (why I chose this work over others in the show) How many women artists can you name from the 16th century? (Me, now 1) Starr Siegele, in an essay for the exhibition brings up that despite increasing scholarship into women's studies among art historians, that study of earlier women artists is still elusive. Diana Scultori, trained by a printmaking family, received a mention and tribute by Giorgio Vasari in his Lives of the Artists, yet this was not common for women artists before the 19th century.

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve, 1504
Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528)
Engraving; 9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. (25.1 x 20 cm)
Fletcher Fund, 1919 (19.73.1)

This print shows Durer's attention to ideal human proportions in his figures. They are most likely based on Roman copies of Greek sculptures he may have seen in Italy. The sculptural attributes of the figures pop out of the image. While Durer's earlier works were woodcuts which he most likely did not cut himself, Adam and Eve and later works are engravings which he mastered through experimenting with cutting the plates.

Durer's representation of Adam and Eve is rich with symbolism, as he filled the landscape with references to medieval theory of the four human temperaments. The melancholy elk, choleric cat, phlegmatic ox and the sensual rabbit were not let loose until Adam and Eve disobeyed God and became vulnerable. In addition, the mouse is a symbol of Satan and the parrot may symbolize false wisdom (Stokstad (2002) 718). Note the very prominent signature on the placard, Durer was very proud of this engraving, and no surprise, as the master engraver rocked the early 16th century with his images and still holds his own today. If you've never seen a Durer in person, try to remedy the situation. I'd also recommend checking out more German work of the late 15th - early 16th century.

Leo Belgicus

Map of S&N Netherlands "Leo Belgicus"
1617/1622?
Pieter Van der Keere (1570/71-1630)


I discovered this great 17th c. map in an exhibition catalog of Dutch Maritime paintings from the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England. While maps were produced for use, they are also a gorgeous art form (and a common collector's item).

Van den Keere was a highly skilled and prolific engraver in Amsterdam. This is a map of the Seventeen Provinces of the Low Countries, which was depicted in the form of a lion, "Leo Belgicus" due to the shape of the coastline and the commonality of the use of the lion in many of the provinces coats of arms.

She

She turned her face to the window, 1868
Winslow Homer
Wood engraving, Engraver: Edward Sears
Page from The Galaxy, May, 1868, vol. V, opposite p. 581 Drawn by Winslow Homer, engraved by E. Sears

As commonly occurs in my wanderings (both virtually and physically) I've fallen in love with another artist, but not yet as a whole. Winslow Homer never held any particular interest for me, I tend to shy away from much American painting, while pretty and nice and often wonderfully real, I admit to finding it a bit dull. Many a painter was also a gifted draftsman, and Engravers such as Sears (who I can't find any info on quickly, only that he probably had his own engraving co. - via an ad in Harper's, maybe I'll do a little more research) spent their time bringing these drawings to the printed page. You'll see many of these images from Harper's Weekly, but all kinds of magazines and journals from the late 19th century appear.

I was playing around in the Brooklyn's Museum's collections using their new tag search to find works with women in them (an email from a dear friend prompted this :) and fell into the wonder of Homer's engravings. Maybe it is the lack of pretension in a drawing that has no color, where the focus is on the details of line, the need for a straightforward picture that tells a story, so it stands out amongst the text that surrounds it in the pages of the magazine. Either way (or ways I have yet to pinpoint), these wood engravings are great little stories that I can't stop looking at.

Also check out HarpWeek's cartoon of the day.