Marcus Curtius

About this work

This image shows a round engraving of a man with a serious face, wearing a loose hat and a chain around his neck. He’s holding a sword in one hand and a small object in the other, with a horse’s head peeking out from the ground beneath him. The lines are tight and detailed, creating shadows and texture in his clothes and the horse’s mane. The scene looks like a moment from history, but the artist used a technique called cross-hatching to build up dark areas with layers of lines. Look up cross-hatching to see how artists create depth this way.