This complicated allegory showing the different disciplines of visual arts has at its centre the goddess Roma. Fittingly for the medium of print, the engraver takes a prominent place at the lower right of the composition. Twisted towards the viewer, he proudly holds his burin — a sharp tool that makes grooves in the copper printing plate. Stradanus, who provided Cort with the design for this print, was very committed to collaborating with engravers to produce many prints such as this one. This impression of the print is historically important because it provides us with clues regarding the working process required in its creation. At its foot is a handwritten inscription in brown ink, which gives the engraver an indication of where the title should be placed when the plate is being worked upon.

According to the Flemish painter and biographer Karel van Mander (1548-1606), drawing was the foundation of the visual arts. Whether a painter, a sculptor or an architect, every artist used pen and paper to capture or to develop ideas.

The art of the printmaker, here shown preparing copper printing plates at lower right, also depended heavily on drawing. Mostly working after designs drawn by other masters, his practice ensured the wide dissemination of an idea that was initially expressed in a unique drawing.

The plate is believed to have been executed in 1573, the same year as the preparatory drawing (British Museum, inv. no. SL,5214.2); however, it was not published until 1578. The Courtauld's impression, with its handwritten inscriptions, appears to be a proof before letters.

Information not yet known or updated

Drawings Gallery Display - Traces: Renaissance Drawings for Flemish Prints, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 18/06/2022-25/09/2022

Bruegel to Freud: Prints from The Courtauld Gallery, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 19/06/2014-21/09/2014

Inscription: recto, lower margin within image : IO STRADENSIS FLANDRVS IN

Collector's mark: verso : collector's stamps of Alfred Morrison (Lugt 151) and Julian Marshall (Lugt 1494)

Inscription: recto, lower margin, handwritten in brown ink : Ill.mo et Ex.mo Dno Iacobo Boncompagno Arcis Praefecto, ingeniorum ac industriae fautori, Artiu nobiliu. praxim, a Io Stradesi Belga artificiose expressa, Laureti Vaccarius D.D. Romae Anno 15 [rest of number cut off]