Antonio da Trento, woodcutter

In his Lives of the Artists, 16th-century chronicler Giorgio Vasari lists this print and Seated Man Seen from Behind among four chiaroscuro woodcuts by Antonio da Trento, who was hired by Parmigianino to reproduce his designs.

As told in The Golden Legend, the Sibyl, a female prophet, revealed to Emperor Augustus a vision of the Virgin and Christ Child, who would eclipse all the Roman gods. This popular tale connected Ancient and Christian Rome, implying foreknowledge of the coming of Christ by the greatest of Roman emperors.

The collaboration between Antonio da Trento and Parmigianino ended unexpectedly. Vasari records that Parmigianino awoke one morning to discover that the printmaker had stolen Parmigianino’s drawings and all his prints (or perhaps copper plates and blocks—Vasari’s text may be translated either way). The blocks were eventually recovered, but Antonio was never heard from again.