The Triumph of Truth over Envy, Plate 24

Series Title: Drawings by the Best Painters of Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands, from Various Cabinets (known as the Kleine Kabinett)

The Triumph of Truth over Envy, Plate 24

1781

after Jacopo Ligozzi

(Italian, 1547-1627)

Culture

Germany, 18th century

Medium

Etching and aquatint printed in brown ink with gold leaf

Measurements

Image and Sheet: 30.5 x 22.9 cm (12 x 9 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Leonard C. Hanna Jr., for the Coralie Walker Hanna Memorial Collection 1939.169

Catalogue raisonné

LeBlanc III.248.61 (as Jean Théophile Prestel); Nagler XIII.259.59 (as Johann Theophilus Prestel); Schwaighofer 36

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Maria Catharina Prestel and her husband reproduced famous drawings from collections across Europe.

Description

As drawings became increasingly sought-after items by collectors in the 1700s, enterprising printmakers created ever-more convincing reproductions for the expanding market. Aquatint, a relatively new etching technique at the time, allowed artists like Maria Catharina Prestel to more faithfully replicate the wide range of tones common in wash drawings. This is visible, for example, in the swirling clouds surrounding the raised fist of Truth. Prestel also developed a technique to translate the golden highlights of the original drawing. She printed additional inked lines to which she adhered powdered gold leaf while they were still wet.