Venus and Cupid (1566)
Original title: Venus and Cupid
kurzbeschreibung
A woodcut from 1566, pulled from the key block alone: Nicolò Boldrini presents Venus and Amor in a landscape, with the drawing going back to a design by Titian. Mythological figures meet a natural setting worked out down to the smallest detail.
Description
At the left Venus kneels on a rock, her long garment falling over her shoulder, and she holds the winged boy Amor in her arm, his gaze turned toward the viewer. Behind the figures stand trees and shrubs with densely set contours, and a small bird sits on a branch. A tablet along the lower edge carries the inscription 'TITIANVS INV NICOLANS BOLDRINVS VINCENSIVS inci debat 1566'.
Context
Boldrini worked in Venice as a reproductive printmaker when the sheet was made in 1566. It rests on an invention by Titian, as the note 'TITIANVS INV' indicates; prints of this kind opened his pictorial ideas to a wider public and found favor with collectors. For black-and-white reproduction of paintings, printing without tone blocks, from the key block alone, was the usual route.
Impact
Venus and Amor sit at the middle, giving the layout a calm, well-balanced feel. The landscape's rich internal drawing leads the eye back to the figures, and the restriction to black and white lends the sheet an even, graphic ring.
Technique
Printing was done from the key block only, whose precisely cut lines yield a delicate internal drawing. Because tone plates are absent, the contrasts between light and dark areas stand out clearly.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)