Terms and conditions of use
Olympus
(1540s)
- Medium
- chiaroscuro woodcut printed from three blocks in green and black inks
- Measurements
- 27.3 × 18.9 cm (image and sheet, trimmed to block mark)
- Place/s of Execution
- Italy
- Catalogue/s Raisonné
- Takahatake 47 iii/vi; Bartsch XII.146.10
- Edition
- 3rd of 6 states
- Accession Number
- 2293-4
- Departments
- International Prints / International Prints and Drawings
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1950
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of the Joe White Bequest - Gallery location
- 16th & 17th Century Gallery - Painting and Sculpture
Mezzanine linked to Level 1, NGV International - About this work
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The Vicentino workshop adopted a production method that prioritised expediency, and many prints produced in the 1540s are misregistered or show signs of imperfect inking. Blocks were also frequently printed in ‘editions’ in different colourways, as seen in this pair of prints depicting the god Olympus. This figure was traditionally described as an allegory of surprise but has more recently been identified as Olympus in an attitude of grief, associated with the story of Apollo and Marsyas related by the first-century Roman author Hyginus. Parmigianino made six drawings illustrating the myth, three of which served as models for chiaroscuro woodcuts.