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Giulio Bonasone

Cloelia Crossing the Tiber

Maker

Giulio Bonasone (Italian, fl. 1531-1574), printmaker
After Polidoro da Caravaggio (Italian, 1495/1500-ca. 1543), designer

Title

Cloelia Crossing the Tiber

Year

ca. 1545

Medium

  • engraving

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • engraving

Materials

engraving

Supports

  • Medium weight off-white laid paper

Dimensions

30.2 x 43.8 cm (11 7/8 x 17 1/4 inches) (plate)

Identification

Standard Reference Number

Bartsch XV.134.83

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Georgianna Sayles Aldrich Fund

Object Number

74.101

Type

  • Prints

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

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

Label copy

Giulio Bonasone relied on Marcantonio Raimondi’s system for engraving but developed a darker manner by placing lines more closely together and increasing ornamental flourishes. Later, engravers in Bonasone’s home city of Bologna would learn the art of engraving in part by retouching many of Bonasone’s copperplates.

The engraving depicts an episode described by Plutarch from the early history of Rome in which ten maidens, led by Cloelia, escaped imprisonment by the Etruscans by fleeing across the Tiber River. The original composition may have appeared on the frieze of a building as a relief sculpture by Polidoro da Caravaggio.

Master Prints from the Permanent Collection
Jun 21, 1985 – Sep 08, 1985

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

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

Tombstone

Giulio Bonasone (Italian, fl. 1531-1574), printmaker
After Polidoro da Caravaggio (Italian, 1495/1500-ca. 1543), designer
Cloelia Crossing the Tiber, ca. 1545
Engraving
30.2 x 43.8 cm (11 7/8 x 17 1/4 inches) (plate)
Georgianna Sayles Aldrich Fund 74.101

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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