1510
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Virgin and Child with the Infant Saint John is a 1510 by Cristofano Robetta, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A woman sits with a baby on her lap. Two children look up at her. One holds a small cross. The scene feels quiet and close. The artist copied parts from another painter’s work. He used their figures but made the scene his own. This was common at the time — artists often borrowed from each other. The print was made in Italy around 1500. It shows how ideas spread between artists. You can see more like this from the same place and time by exploring 16th century, italy.
Active in the early 1500s, the Florentine engraver Cristofano Robetta relied on paintings, frescoes, and works on paper by both Italian and northern European artists, borrowing motifs, figures, and settings with varying degrees of faithfulness. Paintings and drawings by the Florentine artist, Filippino Lippi, were a primary source of inspiration. In this engraving, the central figures of the Virgin, Child, and Saint John derive from Filippino’s Holy Family tondo, though the printmaker replaced the Saints Margaret and Joseph with angels.
Trained as a goldsmith, Robetta’s engraving style consists of extremely fine lines combined with crosshatching and dots.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Cristofano Robetta (1462 – 1535) was an Italian artist, goldsmith, and engraver. Robetta was a Florentine "who made some rich, intricate engravings in the fine manner". He often made engravings which replicated…
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