The two artists represented in this entry are examples of the new breed of reproductive engraver. Except for a dozen or so years spent in northern Europe1, Giorgio Ghisi worked in the Mantuan school, which consisted also of the Scultori family of engravers. Agostino Veneziano, sometimes called Agostino dei Musi, worked in the Raphael school of reproductive engravers as an assistant to Marcantonio Raimondi.

The Mantuan School was one of the few schools not dominated by Marcantonio's workshop in Rome.2 Ghisi was born in Mantua around 1520, and naturally began his craft with that school. His early work there, however, is perhaps not as important as the work he did around the 1550s. It is at this time that he became a bridge between art in the North and South, as he moved to Antwerp around 1550s to work for the famous print-seller, Heironymus Cock. Altogether, he did five large engravings for Cock, the first being Raphael's School of Athens.3 Not only was Ghisi the first Italian to have his work published by Cock, but his print was also the first engraving of an Italian masterpiece to be done in the North by an Italian himself.4 This would revolutionize the growth of art in the North. After working in northern Europe for another twelve or more years, the details of which are not exactly known, Ghisi moved back to Mantua in the late 1560s.

The Delphic Sibyl, one of six in a series based on the prophets and seers on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, was done by Ghisi during the latter part of his career. The dates 1540 and 1549 on this print and others in the series, have been shown to be erroneous. There are several important pieces of evidence for this conclusion, most obviously the fact that the work done in the print is characteristic of his latter work and would not have been as developed in the earlier dates. Secondly, the publisher van Aelst, whose name is on the third state of the print, did not start publishing until the 1570s. Finally, the watermarks on the series of prints points to them being published in the last part of the 3rd century in Italy.5 The series has, therefore, been given the date of the 1570s for its printing.

Delphica, like others in the series, shows the height of Ghisi's art. The print in the collection, which is the third state of his print , gives evidence of Ghisi's skill. He was especially good at depicting tonal variation, as can be seen in the deep shadows and light contrasts. Following the practice of other reproductive engravers, Ghisi would have probably drawn the sibyl from a drawing, and not actually have copied it there in the chapel.

Antonio Veneziano spent most of his career, at least until the sack of Rome in 1527, in that city in a shop established in 1509/10 by a man named Marcantonio. This shop was the leader in the craft of reproduction and Raphael, who saw the benefits of creating a link with a reproductive workshop, had developed a special relationship with Marcantonio. The two men worked together until the former's death in 1520. Even though he engraved after other artists' work as well, Veneziano did most of his engravings after Raphael since he was associated with the shop of Marcantonio. Veneziano's habit of signing and dating prints has made it easy to follow the development of his skill throughout his career.

The Allegory of Temperance, dated 1517, is an engraving after the Wall of the Virtues in the Stanza della Segnatura in Rome. The walls of this building, also featuring the School of Athens, were painted a few years earlier by Raphael. In the engraving, Temperance, representing one of the Cardinal Virtues, is seen with a small putti figure, which represents Faith.6 In Veneziano's print, he exhibits a strong use of line. He changed his engraving from the actual fresco very little, adding only several columns in the background, perhaps to appeal to consumer taste.

1. Boorsch, 1985, 19.
2. Hind, 1963, 99.
3. Boorsch, 17.
4. Boorsch, 17.
5. Boorsch, 164.
6. Reynal, 1969, 116-7.