Image

Nicolas Beatrizet

Section from Last Judgment (upper right, angels and arma Christi)

Description

Maker

Nicolas Beatrizet (French, 1515-after 1565), printmaker
After Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian, 1475-1564), designer

Title

print

Year

1562

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

engraving

Supports

Dimensions

Plate: 23.8 x 51.1 cm (9 3/8 x 20 1/8 inches) (irregular)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum Membership Fund

Object Number

70.055

Type

Projects & Publications

Publications

  • Books

The Brilliant Line: Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650

Renaissance engravings are objects of exquisite beauty and incomparable intricacy that are composed entirely of lines. Artists began using this intaglio process in Europe as early as 1430. This captivating catalogue focuses on the height of the medium, from 1480 to 1650, when engravers made dramatic and rapid visual changes to engraving technique as they responded to the demands of reproducing artworks in other media. The Brilliant Line follows these visual transformations and offers new insight into the special inventiveness and technical virtuosity of Renaissance and Baroque (Early Modern) engravers. The three essays discuss how engraving’s restrictive materials and the physical process of engraving informed its visual language; the context for the spread of particular engraving styles throughout Europe; and the interests, knowledge, and skills that Renaissance viewers applied when viewing and comparing engravings by style or school.

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

The Brilliant Line
Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650
Sep 18, 2009 – Jan 03, 2010

Label copy

A French engraver whose life was spent in Rome, Nicolas Beatrizet was another who built upon Marcantonio Raimondi’s system of engraving. In this work, Beatrizet reproduces the flat textures of fresco painting by surrounding his forms with extensive dotting.

This shaped copperplate comprises one of ten plates that together reproduce Michelangelo’s 1541 Last Judgment, painted on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel. When assembled, the prints measure almost five feet high. One of three artists to undertake this ambitious project, Beatrizet probably copied an earlier set of plates by Giorgio Ghisi; therefore this print was twice removed from the original. Prints after the Sistine Chapel frescoes proved enduringly popular in the Renaissance, providing an intimate view of works by Michelangelo that many would never see in person, and certainly not at such close range.

Related Publications

Related Publications

  • Books

The Brilliant Line: Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650

Renaissance engravings are objects of exquisite beauty and incomparable intricacy that are composed entirely of lines. Artists began using this intaglio process in Europe as early as 1430. This captivating catalogue focuses on the height of the medium, from 1480 to 1650, when engravers made dramatic and rapid visual changes to engraving technique as they responded to the demands of reproducing artworks in other media. The Brilliant Line follows these visual transformations and offers new insight into the special inventiveness and technical virtuosity of Renaissance and Baroque (Early Modern) engravers. The three essays discuss how engraving’s restrictive materials and the physical process of engraving informed its visual language; the context for the spread of particular engraving styles throughout Europe; and the interests, knowledge, and skills that Renaissance viewers applied when viewing and comparing engravings by style or school.

Use & Feedback

Image use

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This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Nicolas Beatrizet (French, 1515-after 1565), printmaker
After Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian, 1475-1564), designer
print, 1562
Engraving
Plate: 23.8 x 51.1 cm (9 3/8 x 20 1/8 inches) (irregular)
Museum Membership Fund 70.055

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