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| Jacopo de' Barbari Pegasus ca. 1509-1516 engraving Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Jacopo de' Barbari Two old men reading ca. 1509-1515 engraving Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Antonio Salamanca Portraits of Lodovico Ariosto and Jacopo Sannazaro 1520-50 engraving (from one plate – to be separated after printing – a rare, unseparated impression) British Museum |
The truth is this, that I full oft have seen
her yvorie corps and bene with her all night,
and naked layne her naked arms between
and full enjoyne the frutes of love's delight:
Now judge who hath in greatest favour been,
to which of us she doth pertayne in right,
and then geve place and yeeld to me mine owne,
sith by just proofes I now have made it knowne.
Just proofes? (quoth Ariodant) nay shamefull lyes,
nor will I credit geve to any word.
Is this the finest tale you can devise?
Hoped you that with this I could be dord?
No no, but sith a slander foule doth rise
by thee to her, maintaine it with thy sword.
I call thee lying traytor to thy face,
And meane to prove it in this present place.
– from Orlando Furioso by Lodovico Ariosto, translated into English heroical verse by Sir John Harrington (London: Richard Field, 1591)
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| Antonio Salamanca Chariot of Diana 1541 engraving British Museum |
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| Jacob Binck The Witch attacking the Devil 1529 engraving British Museum |
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| Virgil Solis Design for egg-shaped vase ca. 1530-62 etching, engraving British Museum |
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| Giovanni Battista Scultori Statue of Athena, back view 1538 engraving British Museum |
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| Parmigianino Tiburtine Sibyl with Emperor Augustus before 1540 engraving Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Parmigianino Venus and Cupid before 1540 engraving Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Maarten van Heemskerck Tamar and Judah before 1574 engraving Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Federico Barocci St Francis receiving stigmata ca. 1580-81 etching, engraving, with stopping-out British Museum |
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| Hendrik Goltzius Leander 1580 engraving Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Jan Pietersz Saenredam after Herndrik Goltzius Bacchus, Venus and Ceres 16th century engraving Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Philips Galle after Johannes Stradanus Engraving Workshop ca. 1593-98 engraving Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
The way people fly
in old engravings, so clear-cut
so credulous.
Between portraits of emperors
and soldiers, vertebrates and
whales . . .
– from the poem Engraving by Peter Theunynck, translated by Willem Groenewegen