The Roman goddess Diana traverses the sky in her chariot, holding the reins of her hunting dogs and accompanied by the maidens Vesta and, in armor at right, Minerva. The light of the moon, associated with Diana, beams outward from her head, illuminating the velvety dark of the night sky. At bottom, a townscape suggests a correspondence between the movements of the goddesses and the celestial bodies they represent, and the direction of earthly life below, a connection understood by Renaissance audiences as deeply entwined.
This work illustrates the collaborative nature of printmaking in Rome initiated by Raphael’s circle, in which engravers produced designs after shared drawings. It was probably engraved by Agostino dei Musi, called Agostino Veneziano for his Venetian birth, who began his career in Marcantonio Raimondi’s printmaking workshop. It is presumably there that he encountered drawings by Luca Penni, who trained under Raphael; this composition relates to Penni’s drawing of Diana now in the Louvre. The inscription at bottom points to the involvement of prominent Roman publisher Antonio Salamanca. Another impression of this engraving shows an offset (or transfer) print on the verso of another Veneziano composition, suggesting that the prints were produced simultaneously, furthering the case for his authorship.
Claire Spadafora Baes
2024
