As modern viewers, we often come to a work of art expecting to find the signature of a single artist, testifying to their presence at the moment of the work’s creation. Yet 16th-century prints are filled with a multiplicity of names that point to the diverse agents—draftsmen, engravers, and publishers—whose hands brought printed images into being. By drawing attention to the signatures and inscriptions on prints designed and executed by artists such as Albrecht Dürer and Federico Barocci, as well as reproductive images created by engravers like Marcantonio Raimondi and Diana Scultori, this exhibition uses prints as a means of understanding early modern notions of authorship.

Exhibition Text and Images