The Calumny of Apelles
Medium
Engraving; third state of six
Dimensions
Sheet (Trimmed): 14 3/8 × 12 1/2 in. (36.5 × 31.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1956
Accession Number
56.597.75
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
This 1560 engraving, titled *The Calumny of Apelles*, was created by Giorgio Ghisi after a design by Luca Penni. Executed in the third state of six, the print measures roughly 14 by 12 inches and belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of drawings and prints. As an engraving, it demonstrates the precision and tonal range possible with the burin on copper, a technique that enabled artists to reproduce complex compositions for wider audiences across Europe. The subject draws on a celebrated ancient Greek anecdote about the painter Apelles, reinterpreted here through Renaissance e...
About the Artist
Giorgio Ghisi|Luca Penni · 1520–1582
Giorgio Ghisi (c. 1520–1582) was one of the most accomplished engravers of the Italian Renaissance, renowned for translating the monumental compositions of Raphael, Giulio Romano, and Michelangelo into the exacting medium of the burin. Born in Mantua, he trained in an environment shaped by the legacy of Giulio Romano's decoration of the Palazzo del Te, and the grandeur of that Mannerist tradition ...