1506
ink
paper
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
The Birth of Venus is a 1506 ink by Marcantonio Raimondi, a Renaissance work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This print shows a naked woman standing on a shell in shallow water, holding a cloth over her body. Behind her is a tall tree with a swirling vine, and in the distance, a ship sails on a calm sea. The lines are dark and precise, with no color—just black and white. The artist used a tool to carve the design into metal, then pressed paper onto it. This method is called *engraving*. Look up engraving to see how artists made prints like this before photography.
Marcantonio Raimondi, often called simply Marcantonio (c. 1470/82 – c. 1534), was an Italian engraver, known for being the first important printmaker whose body of work consists largely of prints copying paintings. He…
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