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Image

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Georg Pencz

Thetis and Chiron

Description

Maker

Georg Pencz (German, ca. 1500-1550), designer

Title

Thetis and Chiron

Year

1543

Medium

  • engraving,
  • trimmed within platemark

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • engraving,
  • trimmed within platemark

Materials

engraving

Supports

  • Light weight laid paper

Dimensions

Plate: 13.5 x 18.7 cm (5 5/16 x 7 3/8 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum Works of Art Fund

Object Number

71.005

Type

  • Prints

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

Georg Pencz and Hans Sebald Beham worked in Reformation Nuremberg during and after Dürer’s life. Called the “Little Masters” for the predominately small format of their prints, these engravers were direct technical successors of Dürer. However, Italian engravings would have been readily available for study by the 1540s and thus their works can be placed in the context of Marcantonio Raimondi’s influence as well. The copious dot-work found on the figures and the passages of parallel lines that define the form of legs and arms may in fact owe more to Italian models than to Dürer.

Pencz’s image conflates two stories, a confusion that may be attributed to the engraver, or to the misleading inscription at the upper right. The inscription indicates that the scene represents the centaur Chiron’s instruction of the Greek hero Achilles. Though Achilles is present in the right background, it is Hercules, another of Chiron’s pupils, who is more prominent, having just killed his first lion. The central female figure is likely Achilles’ mother, Thetis. To confuse things further, the hoofed figure of Chiron is shown not as a centaur (half man/half horse) as legend requires, but a satyr (half man/half goat).

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

Georg Pencz (German, ca. 1500-1550), designer
Thetis and Chiron, 1543
Engraving, trimmed within platemark
Plate: 13.5 x 18.7 cm (5 5/16 x 7 3/8 inches)
Museum Works of Art Fund 71.005

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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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