The Brilliant Line: Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650
by Emily J. Peters

Donated by Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design
224 Benefit St.
Providence, RI 02903
risdmuseum.org

The Brilliant Line: Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650 Exhibition Catalogue Emily J. Peters with contributions by Evelyn Lincoln and Andrew Stein Raftery. Softcover 156 pages, 147 black and white images Dimensions: 12 x 10.5 x .5 inches . Renaissance engravings are objects of exquisite beauty and incomparable intricacy that are composed entirely of lines. Artists began using this intaglio process in Europe as early as 1430. This captivating catalogue focuses on the height of the medium, from 1480 to 1650, when engravers made dramatic and rapid visual changes to engraving technique as they responded to the demands of reproducing artworks in other media. The Brilliant Line follows these visual transformations and offers new insight into the special inventiveness and technical virtuosity of Renaissance and Baroque (Early Modern) engravers. The three essays discuss how engraving's restrictive materials and the physical process of engraving informed its visual language; the context for the spread of particular engraving styles throughout Europe; and the interests, knowledge, and skills that Renaissance viewers applied when viewing and comparing engravings by style or school.