Costume Plate: Woman with Hooded Garment

Art Historical Context

In the mid-16th century, the Renaissance, artists like Enea Vico the elegance of period fashion through intricate engravings, serving as artistic expressions and practical references. *Costume Plate: Woman with Hooded Garment* (ca. 1557–58) exemplifies Vico's mastery as an Italian engraver, who produced detailed reproductive prints inspired by contemporary designs. This small-scale work (5 7/8 x 4 in.) depicts a poised woman enveloped in a hooded garment, highlighting the luxurious textiles and modest silhouettes popular in European courts of the time. Engraving, Vico's preferred medium, involved incising fine lines into a metal plate with a burin, allowing for exceptional precision in rendering folds, textures, and ornamental details. These prints were highly valued for their reproducibility, disseminating fashion ideals across Europe through books and collections. As part of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, this piece reflects the era's fascination with costume as a marker of social status and cultural identity, blending portraiture with documentary art. Today, it offers visitors a window into Renaissance sartorial history, reminding us how clothing conveyed identity in a visually literate age.

About the Artist

Enea Vico · 1523–1567

Enea Vico (1523–1567) was born in Parma and came of age during the final, energetic decades of Italian Renaissance printmaking. By 1541 he had made his way to Rome, where he entered the orbit of the engraver and publisher Tommaso Barlacchi and began his professional career. In Rome, Vico encountered the work of the most celebrated printmakers of the preceding generation—Marcantonio Raimondi, Agost...