Bust of Sleeping Cupid

Description

In chiaroscuro woodcutting, lines stand in relief, printed in different colors and shades. Several printing blocks are used so that the forms seem strongly modeled, with striking contrasts of light and dark. Bartolomeo Coriolano used the medium to transform Guido Reni’s delicately slumbering cupid into a monumental figure with strong diagonal accents in his bow and wings.

Bust of Sleeping Cupid

Bartolomeo Coriolano

1627/53

Accession Number

147616

Medium

Chiaroscuro woodcut from two blocks in grayish-green and black on cream laid paper

Dimensions

Image: 29.8 × 37.8 cm (11 3/4 × 14 15/16 in.); Sheet: 30.2 × 38 cm (11 15/16 × 15 in.)

Classification

woodcut

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Katharine Shea Memorial Fund