The Chiaroscuro Woodcut in Renaissance Italy

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Chiaroscuro woodcuts—color prints made from the successive printing of multiple blocks—flourished in 16th-century Italy, interpreting designs by leading masters such as Raphael, Parmigianino, and Titian, while boasting extraordinary craft and their own, often striking palette. However, they remain among the least understood phenomena: exactly how were chiaroscuros created, in what sequence were they printed, and why? Based upon the most beautiful impressions in American and British collections, extensive new research, and far-reaching interpretations, this exhibition explains the chiaroscuro woodcut as an essential phenomenon, and one of the most beautiful, in the history of printmaking.