1592
ink
paper
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Venus and a Satyr is a 1592 ink by Annibale Carracci, a Renaissance work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This etching shows two figures tangled in a forest. One is a woman with flowing hair, lying on her back, while the other is a bearded man leaning over her. Trees and bushes fill the background, and a distant landscape with tiny figures appears in the top left corner. The artist used fine lines to show texture—notice how the hair and leaves look almost three-dimensional. This kind of detailed shading was tricky to do in etchings at the time. Next, check out the technique: etching to see how artists like this made prints.
Annibale Carracci ( kə-RAH-chee, UK also kə-RATCH-ee, Italian: ; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome.
See the richer artist page
