Venus and a satyr

Annibale Carracci
Italy
1560 – 1609

Venus and a satyr
1592
etching, engraving on paper
Place made
Bologna, Italy
Medium
etching, engraving on paper
State
I/I
Dimensions
15.8 x 22.7 cm (plate)
15.8 x 22.9 cm (sheet)
Credit line
Bequest of David Murray 1908
Accession number
084G1628
Signature and date
Signed and dated in plate l.l., "1592. A.C."
Catalogue raisonne
B.XVIII.192.17; Bohlin 17, only state; TIB 3906.016
Media category
Print
Collection area
European prints

  • WALL LABEL: A Beautiful Line: Italian prints from Mantegna to Piranesi, 2012

     

    The identity of the figures in this etching has been debated. Some scholars believe the female figure is Venus, Roman goddess of love and fertility, while others interpret the scene as the Roman god Jupiter, disguised as a satyr, surprising the sleeping nymph Antiope. The presence of Cupid, son of Venus, suggests the former interpretation is more likely.

     

    From its beginnings, artists have used printmaking to explore erotic subject matter. Unlike the ‘high art’ of painting, which was usually commissioned and therefore open to scrutiny, printmaking encouraged a flowering of new ‘low’ imagery. Amongst the most interesting examples of such imagery are erotic prints, which were made by both marginal and, as in this case, leading artists.

     

    Maria Zagala, Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings & Photographs

  • Impressioni Italiane: Etchings, Engravings & Woodcuts from the Renaissance to the Rococo

    Art Gallery of South Australia, 2 November 1991 – 2 February 1992

  • Italian Old Master Prints from the Collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia

    Art Gallery of South Australia, 11 March 1983 – 15 May 1983

  • Five Centuries of Genius: European Master Printmaking

    Art Gallery of South Australia, 5 May 2000 – 2 October 2000

  • A beautiful line. Italian prints from Mantegna to Piranesi

    Art Gallery of South Australia, 20 August 2010 – 31 October 2010
  • [Book] Gill, Meredith. 1983. Italian Old Master Prints from the Collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia.
  • [Book] Robinson, Julie. 2000. Five Centuries of Genius: European Master Printmaking.
  • [Book] Bohlin, Diane D. 1979. Prints and Related Drawings by the Carracci Family, A Catalogue Raisonne.
  • [Book] Bohn, Babette. 1996. The Illustrated Bartsch vol. 39, part 2 (commentary): Italian Masters of the Sixteenth Century.
  • [Book] Reed, Sue W. & Wallace, Richard. 1989. Italian Etchers of the Renaissance & Baroque.
  • [Book] Zagala, Maria. 2010. A Beautiful Line : Italian prints from Mantegna to Piranesi.
  • [Journal] AGSA Magazine.