Madonna and Child (after Guercino)
Maker
Francesco Bartolozzi
(Italian, active in Italy and England, 1727-1815)
AfterAfter a work by
Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
(Italian, 1591-1666)
Date1765
MediumEtching and aquatint on wove paper
DimensionsPlate: 11-9/16 x 7-3/8 in. (29.4 x 18.7 cm)
Credit LineUniversity Transfer from Max Epstein Archive, Gift of Max Epstein, 1937
Object number1967.116.127
Object TypePrints
On View
Not on viewAccording to legend, St. Luke sat before the Virgin and painted her portrait. His picture, empowered with the holiness of its subject, was venerated as miraculous. Because this holiness was considered transferable through likeness, the purported copies of Luke’s image occupied a special place in Christian artistic tradition.
Bartolozzi’s depiction of this subject, which is a copy of a painting by Guercino, illustrates the important role of printed reproductions in transmitting these central images of the Christian faith—a technological extension, in many ways, of Luke’s original act of portraiture.
Bartolozzi’s depiction of this subject, which is a copy of a painting by Guercino, illustrates the important role of printed reproductions in transmitting these central images of the Christian faith—a technological extension, in many ways, of Luke’s original act of portraiture.
