The Virgin seated on a cloud

The Virgin seated on a cloud

Federico Barocci

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Although Federico Barocci produced only four prints, they were of great importance to the history of printmaking. Following the example of Parmigianino, a number of Italian artists from the 1530s used etching often with engraving to produce their prints. Barocci's example alerted artists throughout Europe to the potential of etching, which would become the dominant medium in the next century. Barocci's etchings were an important model for later printmakers such as Jacques Bellange (1575–1616) and Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669). In this print, Barocci demonstrated how an image full of spontaneity, tenderness, and luminosity (qualities very much in harmony with the Baroque aesthetic) could be conveyed through minimal means. The variety of etched marks show the artist striving for the best way to convey the pictorial qualities he desired. The print was copied by Agostino (Italian, 1557–1602) and Annibale Carracci (1560–1609)—and possibily motivated the latter to give up engraving for etching. The print was also admired by Rembrandt, who produced his own version of the subject decades later. For a trimmed impression, with additional information, see 27.78.1.(196) (Wilton Album, folio 57)

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.