1504
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Virgin and Child with St. John is a 1504 by Antonio da Trento, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
Mary sits in a tight oval, holding baby Jesus on her lap while young John the Baptist watches. Jesus’s tiny foot pokes over the edge, as if stepping out of the picture. Antonio da Trento used fine lines crisscrossed like a net to make light and shadow feel soft and blended. He often printed with gray ink instead of black, giving the scene a quiet, silvery glow. Look up chiaroscuro to see how artists use light and dark to shape a face or a fold of cloth.
Enclosed in an oval and intimate space, the Virgin Mary holds Christ the Child on her lap, with the young Saint John the Baptist arranged to one side. Jesus's right sole is placed on the frame, creating the illusion his foot is resting on it. In his chiaroscuro woodcuts, Antonio da Trento usually favored gray ink rather than black for the line block, aiming for a pale effect and tonal unity. Furthermore, he exploited fine webs of hatching and cross-hatching to create contrasts between vigorous highlights and deep dark shadows. In all of these printing refinements, Antonio's technique was…
This chiaroscuro woodcut is designed after a preliminary drawing by Parmigianino, only differing in the addition of a detailed background of lush foliage.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Antonio da Trento (1508–1550) was an Italian printmaker, born in Trento. He specialized in chiaroscuro woodcuts, especially of religious subjects. Da Trento probably first learned wood engraving from Ugo da Carpi. He…
See the richer artist page
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