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Antiquity and Michelangelo
Engravings produced in Rome depicting its numerous ancient statues, buildings, reliefs, and inscriptions spread a growing knowledge of the remains of Roman art and architecture more rapidly and effectively than ever before. Prints reproducing the city's artistic treasures could be seen and copied by artists near and far, becoming a powerful catalyst of artistic renewal and creating a shared visual culture throughout Europe.
One of the most imitated images was also one of the most recently rediscovered. When an ancient marble statue depicting the Trojan priest Laocoön and his sons being killed by snakes was unearthed in a Roman vineyard in 1506, it sparked a frenzy of excitement. Almost immediately, the statue was reproduced in paintings, drawings, bronze statues, and prints, which transformed the dramatic sculpture into one of the first "viral" images of the early modern period.
Ancient art was a fundamental source of inspiration for Michelangelo (1475 – 1564), who was present at the unearthing of the Laocoön. Populated by muscular bodies in dynamic poses, Michelangelo's so-called presentation drawings (works meant as personal gifts for his intimate friends) reveal a taste for mythological subjects and erudite allegories that would have appealed to his aristocratic patrons. Against Michelangelo's expressed wishes these refined drawings were copied in other drawings, carved gems, bronze plaquettes, and prints. These in turn were quickly copied onto ceramics. Broadcast through print, Michelangelo's designs were thus shared with a wider audience than the artist had ever intended. |