The Virgin with the Long Thigh (Holy Family with the Young Saint John the Baptist)
Marcantonio Raimondi, The Virgin with the Long Thigh (Holy Family with the Young Saint John the Baptist), 1520/1525, engraving on paper, Museum Purchase: Elly Guerin Jackson Memorial Fund, public domain, 2008.77
This work is not currently on view.
- Title
The Virgin with the Long Thigh (Holy Family with the Young Saint John the Baptist)
- Artist
- Date
1520/1525
- Period
High Renaissance (late 15th-1520s)
- Medium
engraving on paper
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
image/sheet: 15 11/16 in x 10 1/2 in
- Inscriptions & Markings
watermark: A Greek cross, resting on a three-pronged suppport. A small circle is found beneath each horizontal arm and above the support
collector's mark: IR (intertwined); Lugt 1522, violet ink, verso; lower right
collector's mark: HST; Lugt 1374, violet ink, verso; lower left
inscription: G9264/2TT, graphite, verso; lower right
inscription: B.57/Coll. Theobald, graphite, verso; lower middle
- Collection Area
Graphic Arts
- Category
Prints
- Object Type
intaglio print
- Culture
Italian
- Credit Line
Museum Purchase: Elly Guerin Jackson Memorial Fund
- Accession Number
2008.77
- Copyright
public domain
- Terms
Marcantonio Raimondi's fame rests on his role as a masterful engraver after other artists' work. He is credited with pioneering the reproduction of artwork in prints, and created more than three hundred prints based on other artists' designs, most notably after Raphael's drawings. In this sheet, which art historians think is based on a painting by Giulio Romano, Marcantonio used a firm, controlled line to capture the sculptural forms of the figures and the imposing classical landscape, creating a moment that appears to be frozen in time.
Marcantonio's skill at copying other artists' work occasionally got him into trouble; in 1506, Albrecht Dürer logged a successful protest in the Venetian Senate against the Italian artist for plagiarizing his woodcuts, complete with Dürer's monogram.
- Exhibitions
2015 Now on View: Recent Acquisitions of Prints and Drawings Spanning 500 Years Portland Art Museum