Print Quarterly

Joris Hoefnagel’s natural history miniatures are some of the most influential in the genre. Originally private drawings, they were translated into print by his son Jacob as a four-part series called the ‘Archetypa studiaque patris Georgii Hoefnagelii’ (published 1592), which was so popular it received numerous reprints well into the eighteenth century. In this drawing, Hoefnagel incorporated actual dragonfly wings, using the nature printing technique of lepidochromy to transfer the specimens onto a flat surface. This allowed him to preserve the colouration and celled structure of the wings. If this wasn’t possible, Hoefnagel would draw every wing cell with meticulous accuracy instead. Discover the intersection of art and natural science in our March 2026 issue. 📷 Joris Hoefnagel, 'Hairy Dragonfly and Two Darters', 1575/90s, transparent and opaque watercolour, dragonfly wings, with oval border in gold, on parchment, 143 x 184 mm (@ngadc ). 📷 Detail of the wings. #PrintQuarterly #Printmaking #JorisHoefnagel #NaturePrinting #Lepidochromy

‘I was trying to make black people become really visible, in a world that would only see us (when it bothered to look) as undeveloped’ (John Wilson) Last year, the African American artist John Wilson was the subject of a wide-ranging survey at @mfaboston and @metmuseum exploring his multifaceted output in painting, sculpture and printmaking, especially in lithography. Pictured here are a group of etchings depicting Martin Luther King, Jr, which developed out of a small preparatory drawing for the bronze bust he had made in 1986. Thinking sculpturally about his ideas was always his preferred method, resulting in the production of many large-scale public sculptures. Yet they would also serve as additional points of departure for developing the same forms and ideas in two dimensions. Learn more about John Wilson in our March 2026 issue. 📷 Installation View of ‘Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson’ showing reduced-size maquette bronze bust of Martin Luther King, Jr, of 1986, and Martin Luther King, Jr, 2002, soft and hard ground etching with spit bite aquatint, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2025. #PrintQuarterly #Printmaking #JohnWilson #MartinLutherKingJr

It never quite made sense why the blade of Saturn’s scythe in Jacopo Caraglio’s engraving was attached in the wrong direction, rendering it completely impractical for its intended purpose. An anonymous engraver would later correct this mistake in one of the many ‘repetitions’ of this print and its associated series. This print is the first in a series of twenty engravings depicting mythological gods and goddesses, each identified by specific attributes. Here, Saturn is also shown devouring one of his sons. Learn more about the possible solution to this mystery in our March 2026 issue. 📷 Jacopo Caraglio, after Rosso Fiorentino, ‘Saturn’, 1526, engraving (@philamuseum ). 📷 Anonymous engraver, after Caraglio, after Rosso Fiorentino, ‘Saturn’, after 1600, engraving (@britishmuseum ). #PrintQuarterly #Printmaking #JacopoCaraglio #RossoFiorentino #Saturn

Details of Japanese kabuki and bunraku plays in Osaka are remarkably well documented, allowing for precise identification of actors and their roles whenever they are featured in ukiyo-e prints. Onoe Tamizō II was the son of a theatre hairdresser and was especially skilled at dance. His versatility enabled him to take on a variety of roles. When he returned to Osaka in 1823 after a three-year period of tutelage in Edo (present-day Tokyo), his image had begun to spread among printmakers. This design is both Hokuei’s first masterpiece and his first deluxe print (jōzuri), which would have been issued privately and made with high-quality printing techniques and metallic pigments. The swirling background brilliantly enhances the artist’s depiction of a supernatural disturbance, in which the actor’s character Chigo Takimaru is manipulating the elements of nature using magical powers. Similarly, Tamizō’s robes have also been whipped about in the monochrome vortex, their rich colours and bold graphics setting them apart for dramatic effect and clarity. Learn more about Hokuei in our March 2026 issue. 📷 Shunbaisai Hokuei, ‘The Actor Onoe Tamizō II as Chigo Takimaru in the Play ‘A Courtesan’s Turn for Improvement’’, 1830, woodblock print (John Fiorillo Collection). #PrintQuarterly #Printmaking #Hokuei #Kabuki #UkiyoePrints

The Holy House of Loreto is traditionally believed to be the house where the Virgin Mary had been born, received the Annunciation of the birth of Jesus Christ, and subsequently where the Holy Family lived. According to legend, it was carried by angels from Nazareth to Croatia, then to Recanati in Italy, before finally landing in Loreto, where it now resides inside the walls of the Basilica della Santa Casa. Among some of the most interesting prints made of the site are those that enabled their owners to create their very own paper Loretos, acting almost like a personalized, three-dimensional shrine. The example shown here was published by Carlo Losi in 1773. Find out more about early modern replicas of the Holy House of Loreto in our March 2026 issue. 📷 Folded Santa Casa, Based on Carlo Losi’s print (Photo courtesy Erin Giffin). 📷 Anonymous artist, published by Carlo Losi, ‘Plan, Elevation and Details of the Holy House of Loreto’, 1773, engraving, 343 x 450 mm (Milan, Raccolta delle Stampe ‘Achille Bertarelli’, Castello Sforzesco). #PrintQuarterly #Printmaking #HolyHouseOfLoreto #SantaCasa

This print of the French poet Stéphane Mallarmé with a raven’s head emerging to the side of his head was made by Paul Gauguin in 1891. It followed an introduction from Charles Morice to Mallarmé, who subsequently nudged a friend to write an article about Gauguin. One impression, shown here, was given by Gauguin to Morice in gratitude. Meanwhile, two other impressions (whereabouts unknown) were given to Mallarmé and later passed by descent to his granddaughter Louise Bonniot. Each had a handwritten dedication to the recipient. Gifts such as these helped Gauguin forge strong relationships within the Symbolist movement. Artists and writers would occasionally produce works specifically for their close network of friends, which would be distributed exclusively within their circle. Learn more about the development of this print, its sources and social context in our March 2026 issue. 📷 Paul Gauguin, 'Portrait of Stéphane Mallarmé', 1891, etching with drypoint and engraving, with handwritten dedication to Charles Morice (@inha_fr ). #PrintQuarterly #Printmaking #PaulGauguin #StéphaneMallarmé #Etching

Hans Burgkmair’s ‘Portrait of Jakob Fugger’ is one of the artist’s well-known woodcuts, despite being unsigned. Only eight impressions are known to have survived. In our latest March issue, the author has proposed a new chronology for the print, which is conventionally dated c. 1510-12. She musters evidence including historic events to suggest a date of 1518 for the first printing, 1522 for a second, and 1526 for a third and final printing shortly after Fugger’s death on 30 December 1525. The impression shown here is from the second printing, bearing the date 1522, a feature not found in the other printings. Closely connected to the woodcut is a medal of Fugger by Hans Schwarz from 1518. It shows the sitter in profile with the same proportions, five-sectioned cap with angled rosette, hair tufts at temple and neck, wrinkles at the nape, and accompanied by a similar text. Which came first: the woodcut or the medal? Read more about the portrait print in the March 2026 issue. 📷 Hans Burgkmair, ‘Portrait of Jakob Fugger’, 1522, woodcut from two blocks, in tan and black (@labnf ). 📷 Hans Schwarz, ‘Medal with the Bust of Jakob Fugger’, 1518, lead (@kunsthistorischesmuseumvienna ). #HansBurgkmair #JakobFugger #Woodcut #RenaissanceMedals #Printmaking

Great talk on Tuesday from @nigelip discussing fantastic case studies and quirky examples of printmaking from the likes of Parmigianino, Schiavone, Picasso and Chizuko Yoshida – some recently featured in Print Quarterly – highlighting their technical and conceptual contributions to printmaking. It was also fantastic to see @thebrown_collection , the private art museum of @glennbrownofficial , which exhibited a diverse range of prints from Hendrick Goltzius to Stanley William Hayter as part of its current ‘Hoi Polloi’ exhibition. #PrintQuarterly #TheBrownCollection #nigelip #Printmaking #WorksOnPaper

Women Printmakers and Print Publishers in the Early Modern World III - @rsaorg San Francisco 2026 - Thursday 19 February, 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM - Hilton San Francisco Union Square - Franciscan Room A - Ballroom Level Organisers: Dr Rhoda Eitel-Porter (Editor, @printquarterly ) and Professor Emanuele Lugli (Stanford University) Session 3, Chair: Professor Babette Bohn 2:30 PM – Widowhood and Women Printers in Sixteenth-Century France (Katherine Goertz, Hill Museum & Manuscript Library; Saint John’s University) 2:50 PM – Beyond the Maîtrise and the Académie Royale: Professional Women Printmakers in Paris after 1660 (Dr Kelsey D. Martin, Private Fine Art Collection) 3:10 PM – From Obvious to Oblivion: Marritgen Muller’s Pivotal Role in Publishing House De Vergulden Passer Reassessed (Laurien van der Werff, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam) 3:30 PM – Early Women Engravers, Henrietta Koenen, Samuel P. Avery, and First Wave Feminism (Professor Judith K Brodsky, Distinguished Professor Emerita, Rutgers University and Founding Director, the Brodsky Center at PAF) Sponsored by @printscholars , Dr Talitha M. G. Schepers (APS RSA Coordinator) 📷 Charlotte Guillard’s printer’s device, from Digestorum, seu Pandectarum. Pars sexta (Paris, 1552), woodcut (Hill Museum and Manuscript Library) [Katherine Goertz] 📷 Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella, Romulus et Remus, 1676, engraving (@Rijkmuseum ) [Judith Brodsky] 📷 Magdalena van de Passe, after Roelandt Savery, The Prophet Elijah Receiving Bread from the Raven in a Landscape with Mountains and a River, 1620-30, engraving (@NYPL ) [Judith Brodsky] #PrintQuarterly #RENSA26 #Printmaking #WomenPrintmakers #Renaissance #worksonpaper

Women Printmakers and Print Publishers in the Early Modern World II - @rsaorg San Francisco 2026 - Thursday 19 February, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM - Hilton San Francisco Union Square - Franciscan Room A - Ballroom Level Organisers: Dr Rhoda Eitel-Porter (Editor, @printquarterly ) and Professor Emanuele Lugli (Stanford University) Session 2, Chair: Professor Emanuele Lugli 11:00 AM – On the Slopes of Vesuvius: Teresa del Pò and Scientific Knowledge-Making in Seventeenth-Century Naples (Alessia Silvi, PhD Student, Stanford University) 11:20 AM – Teresa del Pò (1649–1713) and Representations of Seventeenth-Century Women (Audrey Lin, Emory University. Art History PhD student) 11:40 AM – Betwixt Parchment and Print: Teresa del Pò’s Penitent Magdalene at the National Gallery of Art (Dr Eve Straussman-Pflanzer, National Gallery of Art, Washington) Sponsored by @printscholars , Dr Talitha M. G. Schepers (APS RSA Coordinator) 📷 Teresa del Pò, The Eruption of Vesuvius in 1694, in Antonio Bulifon, Lettera nella quale si da' distinto ragguaglio dell'incendio del Vesuvio succeduto del mese d'Aprile 1694 (Naples: Giuseppe Rosselli, 1694) 📷 Teresa del Pò, Cardinal Chigi's garden party on 15 August 1668 in Rome in honour of the Rospigliosi family: performance scene (detail), 1668, etching (@albertinamuseum ) 📷 Teresa del Pò, Penitent Magdalene in the Desert, etching and engraving, after 1660 (@istitutocentraleperlagrafica ) #PrintQuarterly #RENSA26 #Printmaking #WomenPrintmakers #Renaissance

Women Printmakers and Print Publishers in the Early Modern World I - @rsaorg San Francisco 2026 - Thursday 19 February, 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM - Hilton San Francisco Union Square - Franciscan Room A - Ballroom Level Organisers: Dr Rhoda Eitel-Porter (Editor, @printquarterly ) and Professor Emanuele Lugli (Stanford University) Session 1, Chair: Dr Rhoda Eitel-Porter 9:00 AM – Girolama Parasole’s Battles and Collaborations (Professor Evelyn Lincoln, Brown University) 9:20 AM – Elisabetta Catanea Parasole “Bergamasca”: A Female Printmaker of Pattern Books for Lace During the Counter-Reformation (Sara Baccanelli, PhD Candidate in History of Art, Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy) 9:40 AM – Bologna Intagliatrice (Professor Babette Bohn, Texas Christian University) Sponsored by @printscholars , Dr Talitha M. G. Schepers (APS RSA Coordinator) 📷 Geronima Parasole (Girolama Parasole), Battle of Lapiths and Centaurs, after Antonio Tempesta, 1623, woodblock print (@metmuseum ) 📷 Elisabetta Catanea Parasole, Lace Designs (Merletti a piombini), from Fiore d’ogni virtù per le nobili et honeste matrone, 1610, woodcut 📷 Elisabetta Sirani, Martyrdom of St John the Baptist, 1657, etching (@britishmuseum ) #PrintQuarterly #RENSA26 #Printmaking #WomenPrintmakers #Renaissance

I'M DOING A TALK! Been a bit quiet about this recently but I am honoured to be giving a talk on printmaking at the wonderful @thebrown_collection on Tuesday 24th February. Do come along if you want to be enchanted by the magic of print. To book your ticket, visit their website by following the link in my bio. *** Standard Ticket: £12 Concession Ticket: £10 6:30 – 8pm. Doors open at 6pm. This talk will highlight the material and technical qualities of printmaking, drawing attention to unique and unexpected features of prints since the 16th century. From cracked printing plates to masterful manipulations of line, audiences will gain a deeper understanding of the art form's physical processes and how such quirks contributed to major innovations in printmaking. #ReviewsByNigel #nigelip #printmaking #worksonpaper #TheBrownCollection