The Battle of Constantine at the Milvian Bridge, after Raphael
Original title: The Battle of Constantine at the Milvian Bridge, after Raphael
kurzbeschreibung
Giovanni Battista Cavalieri produced this engraving of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge around 1569, working from a design by Raphael. The image was printed on two sheets joined together, and it presents the historic encounter as a dense throng of fighting figures.
Description
In the foreground, warriors push through the unsettled combat, some mounted and some on foot, all caught up in close struggle. The carnage continues toward the rear, with wounded and falling men scattered among the fighters. Angels hover above the action, accompanying it from on high. The arrangement works in monochrome line, while shading and contrasts create effects of light.
Context
Cavalieri, a sixteenth-century Italian engraver, is known above all for reproductive prints after Renaissance masters. His sheet of about 1569 takes up Raphael's fresco of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in the Vatican Stanze. It recalls the event of 312 AD, when Constantine's victory helped advance the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire.
Impact
The dense, energetic mêlée draws the viewer straight into the chaos of the fight. Precise shading and delicate lines give the print dramatic depth and stress the heroic dimension of the historical moment.
Technique
The work was executed as an etching, printed on two joined sheets of paper. This made it possible to produce large-format reproductions after paintings and frescoes, as was common in sixteenth-century printmaking. The line follows the Renaissance manner: carefully worked detail, emphatically dynamic and animated.
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Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)