Art Institute of Chicago

Four Children with a Cat and a Dog, plate nine from Twelve Ornament Panels

Giovanni Pietro da Birago

Date

c. 1505–15

Medium

Engraving in black on ivory laid paper

Culture

Italy

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This print exemplifies a type of ornamental design that enjoyed wide popularity in the 15th and 16th centuries. Featuring fanciful decorative vases, fragments of armor, symmetrical acanthus scrolls, fantastic creatures, and frolicking putti, it was inspired by painted and carved architectural decorations from Roman antiquity. A significant number of very early engravings depict ornamental designs, suggesting there was considerable demand for them among artists, craftsmen, scholars, and collectors interested in the classical past.

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