Sibyl with a Child Holding a Torch / Ugo da Carpi / after Raphael

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Record Details

Accession Number
2008/2.420
Title
Sibyl with a Child Holding a Torch
Artist
Ugo da Carpi
Artist Nationality
Italian
Artist Life Dates
ca. 1440 - after 1525
Object Creation Place
Europe (continent)
Italy (nation)
Lazio (region)
Roma (province)
Rome (inhabited place)
Creation Place 1
Europe (continent)
Creation Place 2
Italy (nation)
Creation Place 3
Lazio (region)
Creation Place 4
Roma (province)
Creation Place 5
Rome (inhabited place)
Style/Group/Movement
Renaissance
Dimensions
47.63 cm x 40.96 cm (18 3/4 in. x 16 1/8 in.)
Century
16th century
Primary Object Classification
Print
Primary Object Type
chiaroscuro woodcut
Physical Description
A woman sits in an interior holding a book in her right arm, which is propped upon a ledge. She reads by the light of a torch held by a child standing next to her. Print trimmed to image frame. Image was previously folded at center (multiple folds). Paper size: lh 27 3/5cm & rh 27 4/5cm x tw 22 3/5cm bw 22 3/10cm.
Subject Matter
This tranquil scene shows a sibyl, an ancient prophetess, reading by torchlight. The print is the first attempt by the artist Ugo da Carpi at reproducing a drawing by Raphael in an innovative medium known as chiaroscuro woodcut. Developed in Germany in the first decade of the sixteenth century, chiaroscuro woodcuts were the earliest images printed in color, produced entirely from carved wooden blocks printed sequentially upon a single sheet of paper. The muted tonalities of chiaroscuro woodcuts sought to capture the modulated effects of light and shadow, known by the Italian term "chiaroscuro" (literally "light/dark"), qualities that were prized in contemporary pen, ink, and wash drawings. In his "Lives of the Artists," first published in 1550, Giorgio Vasari wrote that Raphael produced a drawing "in chiaroscuro" to serve as a model for this print. The combination of a bright torch in a dark room was an ideal subject for this initial collaborative foray by the Renaissance master and Ugo da Carpi into the medium of chiaroscuro woodcut.
Rights
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Technical Details

Image Size
3456 x 4200
File Size
2 MB
Record
2008/2.420
Link to this Item
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-2008-sl-2.420/2008_2_420.jpg

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"Sibyl with a Child Holding a Torch; Ugo da Carpi; after Raphael." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-2008-sl-2.420/2008_2_420.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed March 19, 2024.
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