Use Restrictions

Public Domain. There are no known restrictions.

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions.

Preferred Citation

"Madonna and Child" print by Friedrich Karl Rupprecht, after Zanetti, after Parmigianino chiaroscuro woodcut, C0418, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Purchased by SCRC from the Book Press, Ltd. in February 2017.

Processing Information

Processing completed by Meghan Glasbrenner in November 2023. Finding aid completed by Meghan Glasbrenner in December 2023.

Biographical and Historical Information

Friedrich Karl Rupprecht was born in Germany on October 31, 1779. Rupprecht attended high school in Nuremberg and while there became a student of the landscape painter Christoph Froer. Starting in 1799 he studied at the academy in Dresden and began work as an independent artist in 1802 before settling in Bamberg in 1810. A painter and engraver, Rupprecht also revived the chiaroscuro woodcut technique by making prints after Italian artists. Rupprecht fell ill in the summer of 1831 due to unhealthy working conditions during the restoration of the Bamberg Cathedral and passed away on October 25 of that year.

Chiaroscuro woodcut printmaking was developed in Germany and expanded upon in Italy in the early 1500s and is one of the earliest color printing processes. The term "chiaroscuro" is a combination of the Italian words for "chiaro" meaning light and "scuro" meaning shade. Rather than the hand application of color ink to an impression printed in black ink, chiaroscuro woodcuts created images using multiple woodblocks that layered color tones to create the image, traditionally shades of brown, ochre, olive, green, gray, and other earth tones. Interest in the technique waned and had virtually died out by the late 1600s, but a group of Venetian printmakers led to a revival of interest in the 1700s. Antonio Maria Zanetti I (also known as the Elder) is considered one of these key revivers of the chiaroscuro woodcut. Born in 1680, Zanetti began experimenting with the technique in the 1720s by reproducing drawings by Parmigianino (also known as Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola), a 16th century Italian painter, etcher, and engraver.

Scope and Content

Friedrich Karl Rupprecht 19th century printed copy of a chiaroscuro woodcut by Antonio Maria Zanetti I, after a drawing by Parmigianino. Elaborate ink signature on back of print, possibly reading L & L Baskin, dated 1965.

Arrangement

This is a single item collection.

Related Material

The Special Collections Research center holds other woodcut prints and engravings including Nuremberg Chronicle leaf with woodcut illustrations , and the Broadus Bailey French Revolution print collection .

The Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (P&P) holds The Pembroke Album , a collection of 91 images, primarily chiaroscuro woodcuts by Italian printmakers active in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Art
• Chiaroscuro
• Christian art and symbolism
• Christian art and symbolism -- Germany -- Modern period, 1500-
• Parmigianino, 1503-1540
• Rupprecht, Friedrich Karl, 1779-1831
• Wood engravings
• Zanetti, Antonio Maria, 1680-1767