Image

Previous image 1 2 / 2 Next image

Lucas van Leyden

Abraham and the Three Angels

Description

Maker

Lucas van Leyden (Netherlandish, ca. 1494-1533)

Title

Abraham and the Three Angels

Year

1513

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

engraving

Supports

Dimensions

Plate/Image: 17.8 x 13.8 cm (7 x 5 7/16 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Verso:in pencil inscribed, LC:B15/E.S.60In Plate--Initialed, center of right edge:L

Marks: R.I.S.D. museum stamp in brown ink on verso Partial Collector mark of King Friedrich August II in black ink on recto:[crown inside arched line with other marks](Lugt 971)

Identification

State

only state

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Murray S. Danforth, Jr.

Object Number

50.326

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

The knee of the angel at left shows Lucas van Leyden’s important contribution to the development of tone in engraving technique. He achieved the effect of modeled shadow by cutting courses of curved parallel lines and then adding shorter lines in between. In comparison, Lucas's contemporary Albrecht Dürer rarely applied this formula for shading, instead preferring a system of straight, crossed lines with flicking. Lucas’s technique may have influenced the invention of the engraved swelling groove some forty years later, which would achieve the same general effect with fewer lines.

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

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

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

Tombstone

Lucas van Leyden (Netherlandish, ca. 1494-1533)
Abraham and the Three Angels, 1513
Engraving on light weight cream laid paper, trimmed within platemark
Plate/Image: 17.8 x 13.8 cm (7 x 5 7/16 inches)
Gift of Murray S. Danforth, Jr. 50.326

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