David and Goliath

Ugo da Carpi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Early chiaroscuro woodcuts involved printing with two or more woodblocks, each in a different hue, to attain light and dark tonal values similar to those achieved in wash drawings. Ugo da Carpi was the first Italian artist to use this technique. He claimed to have invented a new way to print in "light and dark" (chiaro et scuro), though German artists had started experimenting with similar woodcuts several years prior. To protect his "invention," the Venetian Senate granted Ugo an exclusive privilege in 1516, and he also received a papal privilege in 1518. In this print, Ugo used three blocks—a keyblock inked in black for the outlines and two tone blocks inked in different shades of green. The subject is based on a design by Raphael, whose name appears alongside Ugo’s at the bottom of the woodcut.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art