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Karel van Mander's biography of his friend Hendrick Goltzius in the "Schilder‐boeck" provides crucial information about the artist up to 1604, but it also mythologizes him with its construction of heroic artistic masculinity. The gendered tropes of milk, fire, and blood are drawn from Goltzius's life: his mother's insufficient milk, her toddler son's severely burned hand, and his chronic adult illness (tuberculosis), causing him to cough blood and suckle milk as a remedy. Although rooted in the artist's body, these tropes work metaphorically. Suckling milk signifies the nurture of art during the artist's journey to Italy; fire, a sign of Goltzius's passion for art; blood, a non‐martial but nonetheless heroic wound. These tropes work alongside the epithets of Proteus and the phoenix to construct a mythic masculinity that strongly influenced Goltzius and persisted well after the "Schilder‐boeck's" publication. Goltzius's life and work, however, are ripe for analysis in terms of embodiment and gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In this article, I follow the mixed fortunes of a woodcut depicting a cutaway view of a set of ancient baths, so far neglected by modern scholarship. First published in a mid-sixteenth-century treatise on balneology and based on a misinterpretation of Vitruvius (5.10.1), it reappeared as a copy of a Roman wall-painting in several eighteenth-century antiquarian works. The remarkable resonance enjoyed by this image in specialist and popular publications until the early twentieth century makes it one of the most influential and controversial sources in the history of Roman baths studies. In exploring the reasons behind the enduring, uncritical acceptance of this depiction, I raise broader questions concerning the nature and extent of intellectual networks in eighteenth-century Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the significance of the cover image selected for the January 2008 issue, analyzing the iconography of a 16th century engraving by Francesco de Franceschi. Details concerning the artistic symbols utilized in the anthropomorphic depiction of the feminine figure "pax," or Peace are explained. An overview is provided of de Franceschi's career and his historical context within Renaissance art and highlighting his connection to the book engraving and publishing industry of the era.

This paper focuses on Amico Aspertini's engraving Genesis Scene with Fall, Expulsion, Adam and Eve after the Fall, and Abel's Sacrifice, a complex allegory that places a self-mirroring man in the middle of the events. The aim of the article is to highlight the general importance of the mirror motif in representations of the biblical story of Eden. On the one hand, the seduction of Eve was understood as a visual event and as an act of artful illusion. On the other hand, envy (invidia) or, alternatively, pride (superbia) was considered to be the reason for the original sin. And either personification had a mirror as its main attribute. Aspertini's engraving takes up this understanding of the fall to show that his own art and more generally all figurative imitations thrive on the productive tension between diabolic allurement and divine vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the work of the artist Andrea Mantegna. Particular focus is given to his works on paper, most particularly his engravings. Additional topics explored include his artwork "The Entombment," dating from 1465-1470, the history of engraving and graphic arts and how his work compares to that of other artists including Jacopo Bellini.

The article discusses the 16th century engraving "The Big Fish Eat the Small" by Belgian artist Maarten de Vos. The article focuses on the production of prints from the engraving, the artistic culture of Antwerp, Belgium, and the influence of Dutch artist Pieter Bruegel on de Vos. Among other topics addressed are its depiction of cannibals and cannibalism, works copying or imitating the original engraving, and an overview of Vos' other works, especially his satire.

Hieronymus Cock's view of the Capitoline Hill, published in his 1562 series on Roman ruins, has long been considered a useful document by historians of art and architecture for the key historical and topographical information it contains on one of Rome's most celebrated sites during the Renaissance. Beyond its documentary nature, which, as will appear was essentially rhetorical, the view also offers much information as to how a mid-sixteenth-century Flemish artist might perceive Rome's illustrious topography and celebrated ancient statuary. In other words, Cock's engraving enables us to put into practice what may be called an "archaeology of the gaze." Through previously unnoticed details, Cock invents a comical—verging on the satirical—vision of the antique sculptures proudly displayed on the famous piazza. Such an ironical reversal of Italian classical dignity is typical of the attitude of some contemporary Flemish artists, such as Pieter Bruegel the Elder, who was then close to Cock, and exposes the ambivalent position of some Northern European artists towards the classical tradition and Italian art theory. Finally, the analysis of other engravings of ruins by Hieronymus Cock where two emblematic characters—the draftsman and the kakker (the one who defecates)—appear side by side, sheds light on the origin and possible significance of these comical and subversive details. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers an original interpretation of the print Quos Ego (c.1515-16), designed by Raphael and engraved by Marcantonio Raimondi, as an art-theoretical image addressing the period's obsession with the paragone, the competition between the arts, including painting, sculpture, and poetry. Using illusionistic devices, simulated sculpture, intense chiaroscuro, and the engraving medium itself, Quos Ego attempts to establish painting's superiority over sculpture. Moreover, by emphasizing the more direct and instantaneous impact of the visual image, the engraving attempts to overcome the literary source of its imagery, Virgil's Aeneid, thus challenging the period's equation of poetry and painting. Linking the important early paragonal thinking of Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1490s) and Baldassare Castiglione's writings on the paragone (Book of the Courtier, published 1528), Quos Ego can be seen as not only visualizing much of what was argued on painting's behalf, but also advancing visual arguments for painting within a debate generally dominated by words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay situates Giovanni Stradano's engravings of the discovery of the Americas from the Americae Retectio and Nova Reperta series within the context of their design in late sixteenth-century Florence, where the artist worked at the Medici court and collaborated with the dedicatee of the prints, Luigi Alamanni. Through an analysis of the images in relation to contemporary texts about the navigators who traveled to the Americas, as well as classical sources, emblems, and works of art in diverse media--tapestry, print, ephemera, and fresco--the study argues that Stradano's allegorical representations of the Americas were produced in order to make clear Florence's role in the invention of the New World. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the genesis and reception of three engravings representing peasants made by Albrecht Dürer between the years 1514 and 1519. These images have been interpreted as social commentary or low-brow farce; I argue their importance is art theoretical. In my view, they are the result of Dürer's 1505-6 visit to Venice, where Italian artists derided his ability to work in a classical idiom. In response, I argue, Dürer developed a method of imitation that I call "inverse citation," which veils a famous antique model in the guise of a boorish peasant. Following Luther's rebellion against the Church, northern artists took up this technique with more polemical aims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the history of the 1595 engraving "Sine Baccho et Cerere Friget Venus" by artist Hendrick Goltzius. The author reflects on the engraving in a plate of silver and the art of printmaking with base and noble metals such as gold. Topics discussed include the work of artist Albrecht Dürer, portrait engraving, and related works such as "Paniere Farnese" by artist Francesco Villamena. Other topics include the art collecting of Emperor Rudolf II, the influence of sculptor Michelangelo Buonarotti, and the reconciliation of honor and wealth in art.

Featuring the image of an athlete tugging at a rooted sapling, Impossible is the most enigmatic of the many small-scale engravings produced by Hans Sebald Beham. Juxtaposed with the adage ''Nobody should dare great things that are impossible for him to do,'' the image not only challenges the astute viewer to a game of wits: the resulting paradox also unleashes a cascade of ethical questions concerning the boundedness of the will, Christian freedom, human perfectibility, and the paradoxical conditions of self-knowledge. These issues came to the fore in the sixteenth-century debate over free will, which pitted humanists, magisterial, and radical reformers against one another. Beham's documented experience as a religious and political dissident during the 1520s raises the possibility that the print, made later in life, embeds still another allegorical layer: the conflicted situation of the artist in an era of reform and iconoclasm, Renaissance and revolution, hope and disillusionment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about the interpretation of an engraving by Renaissance German artist Albrecht Dürer. Interpretive theories by various art historians such as Peter-Klaus Schuster are discussed, but the author notes that room remains for further studies of the meanings in Dürer's work "Melancolia I." An examination is given of the thematic element of justice in the engraving. References are made to Greek and Roman mythology, works by medieval scholar Boethius, and the story of Biblical figure Noah and the Flood.

The article focuses on the role and status of Dutch and Flemish printmakers in Rome between 1565 and 1600. The analysis on their roles are based on the information gathered including the graphic arts of Netherlandish scholars such as Domenicus Lampsonius and Philippe van Winghe and the critical writings of Karel van Mander. The letter of Domenicus Lampsonius to Giulio Clovio is often interpreted as the most emphatic praise of the potentialities of reproductive engraving and praise for the works of Cornelis Cort, an accomplished plate-cutter. His works played a major role in increasing and consolidating the reputation in the Netherlandish school of engraving. Works of the engravers tend to develop because of various explorations that lead them to discover new techniques and applications.

The paintings The concert on the Oriental court (1786) and The lute concert (ca. 1786) by Johann Josef Karl Henrici (1737-1823) - both at the Akademija za Glasbo in Ljubljana - depict musical life in European aristocratic society of the second half of the eighteenth century and in their details are tuned up on exoticism. The first painting presents the allegory of music, while the second can be understood as the allegory of hearing or the allegory of five senses. In the Dornava mansion, which used to be owned by Austrian aristocrats and today is considered to be one of the most exceptional mansions in Slovenia, on the painted wall canvas are preserved Chinoiseries from about 1750, which belong among the most distinguished European examples of this genre. Represented scenes are produced after seventeenth-century fantastic and grotesque engravings (one source was the series Balli di Sfesania by Jacques Callot from ca. 1622), in the details comparable to Chinoiseries produced for the European market of the second half of the eighteenth century. Among motifs of the Italian comedia dell'arte and scenes of imaginary life in China, are depicted two figures, one playing a stylized lyre and the other a bowed string instrument. The instruments seem to be European, but their fantastic shapes make it obvious that their symbolism overcomes strictly musical meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the working practices of Christopher Plantin in engraving book illustrations during the sixteenth century. It is claimed that most of Plantin publications with engraved illustrations appear to be illogically inconsistent, as the selection of plates used to print the illustrations differs from copy to copy. The author asserts that Plantin's production and illustration of Benito Arias Montano's "Humanae Salutis Monumenta" has puzzled scholars from various field of study. Moreover, several essential aspects of Plantin's production of "Monumenta" are examined.

Points out that in the development of protrait prints in sixteenth-century northern art in Europe, there is a quest to establish the means for invoking identity. Iconicity, collectivity and communal authorship; Gradual and suitably self-conscious evolution; Resultant artistic genre that appears so self-justified and transparent that it is taken for granted.

Features a discourse of color in the book, 'Pygmalion and the Ivory Statue,' invented, engraved, and published by Hendrick Goltzius in 1593. Significance of Goltzius' claim that the art that conceals art engenders love by enlivening inert matter; Ability of Goltzius to describe the luster, suppleness, and color of flesh; Analogy between Pygmalion's art and the engravings of Goltzius.

The article presents several art collections, inspired by Petrarch' Triumph, of Matthäus Greuter. Accordingly, Greuter has created an allegorical poem and it was successfully patronized in Italy in 15th and 16th century. In addition, his allegorical poem has been translated into several languages including French, Spanish, and English. His poem was inspired by his several art collections which consist of paintings, tapestries, and engravings. Greuter's painting collection "The Triumphs of Love, Chastity and Death and of Fame, Time and Eternity" has inspired several works of art.

The article offers information on Italian engraver and publisher Antonio Salamanca. Salamanca, who collaborated with Antonio Lafreri to create made-to-order composite map books during the mid-16th century, produced this finely engraved world map utilizing the double cordiform projection. Salamanca's engraving was based on a map published in 1538 by the noted Flemish geographer and map publisher, Gerard Mercator. Information about his early life along with his works are also considered in the article.

The article highlights the painting "Preparation for the Sabbath" of Jacques de Gheyn II. According to the author, the painting can amount to an act of sorcery and it is the only print of de Gheyn that treats sorcery explicitly. He added that de Gheyn intentionally manipulated orientation and reversal in his prints wherein even in prints where the subject matter is not deeply associated with inversion. Moreover, de Gheyn's witches inhabit a space of unnatural forces where goats fly, storms issue from the kitchen vessels and nudity is a symptom of the unruly and the fantastic.

The article explores the reproductive printmaking of Giorgio Ghisi during the 16th century. Reproductive printmaking refers to prints that replicate drawings or images created by another artist for a different medium. Two-plate engravings of Ghisi were analyzed, namely the "Nativity" of 1553 and the "School of Athens" of 1550. It relates that the "Nativity" is related to an oil painting by Agnolo Bronzino while the "School of Athens" is related to the fresco in the Vatican by Raphael Sanzio. It outlines evidence that Ghisi did not make the drawing himself for the engraving.

The article focuses on printer Gabriele Giolito's 16th century Venetian engraving titled "The Children of Venus." It provides a brief description of the engraving and the significant role played by its characters and figures such as Venus and Cupid. It also mentions the meaning of the laurel-encircled face of the sun and its association to Venus and the moon.

The article presents the inscriptions in the a series of engravings by an anonymous engraver who worked in the mid-sixteenth century Germany. This series of engravings with ornamental designs can be found in Vienna, Austria. The translation of the inscriptions in the engravings is outlined. It relates how the inscriptions describe the uses to which the prints can be put. It discusses the features of the titles for series of ornament prints by German artists in the 16th century and the didactic comments they include in the titles.