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Italy and the North
In the age of print, artists and craftsmen could respond to ideas and images produced in faraway places more easily than ever before. For the visual arts, the rapid diffusion of prints and illustrated books throughout Europe after 1450 led to the diminishing importance of traditional, local models in favor of a broader, often international outlook. Crossing distances as well as borders, printed books were from the very outset marketed to a wide audience, while printed images intensified and accelerated the already established artistic ties between Italy and northern Europe. For instance, Albrecht Dürer's technically astonishing prints were greatly admired and frequently copied in Italy. In turn, Italian prints and bronzes inspired by the art of classical antiquity shaped the development of northern artists, including Lucas Cranach and Dürer himself.
The works in this gallery shed light on the cycle of influence enabled by single-sheet prints and illustrated books. Within a century, the groundbreaking and boundary-crossing technologies of print completely transformed the production and appearance of art on the continent, contributing to the emergence of a common European visual culture. |