The Renaissance Engraver at Work

Special Exhibition

Sunday, July 5–Sunday, November 1, 2026

Location: 101A–B Prints and Drawings
James and Hanna Bartlett Prints and Drawings Galleries

Free; No Ticket Required

About The Exhibition

Many of us hold an engraving in our hand every day in the form of US currency. In Renaissance Europe, engraving was a new technology. Long the domain of goldsmiths, engraved lines appeared as prints on paper—possibly to record metalwork designs—in the mid-1400s. The potential of printed engravings quickly became clear: They provided the opportunity to reproduce artworks in other media with unprecedented refinement and to disseminate artistic compositions far and wide.

Engraving’s materials are unforgiving. Made with just a burin (a steel chisel), a copperplate, ink, paper, and a press, engraved designs are limited to a visual vocabulary of crossed and parallel lines, dots, and grooves. Engravings made between approximately 1470 and 1650 reveal how early practitioners grappled with universal pictorial problems—such as tone, texture, and volume—through linear means. The Renaissance Engraver at Work follows the rapid spread of engraving, marked by key innovations, from the Rhine region to Florence, Nuremberg, Venice, Antwerp, Rome, and Paris.

The Cleveland Museum of Art holds some of the world’s rarest and most important early engravings, including the only known first state of Antonio del Pollaiuolo’s Battle of the Nudes and unique impressions by the Master of the Nuremberg Passion and the Master of the E-Series Tarocchi. Drawn entirely from the CMA’s collection, The Renaissance Engraver at Work explores the innovations and adaptations as well as the beauty and astounding optical effects that shaped the early history of engraving.

Featured Art

Sponsors

All exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Exhibitions. Principal annual support is provided by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder, the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, the John and Jeanette Walton Exhibition Fund, and Margaret and Loyal Wilson. Major annual support is provided by the late Dick Blum and Harriet Warm and the Frankino-Dodero Family Fund for Exhibitions Endowment. Generous annual support is provided by two anonymous donors, Gini and Randy Barbato, Cynthia and Dale Brogan, Dr. Ben and Julia Brouhard, Brenda and Marshall Brown, Gail and Bill Calfee, the Leigh H. Carter family, Dr. William A. Chilcote Jr. and Dr. Barbara S. Kaplan, Mary and Jim Conway, Joseph and Susan Corsaro, Ron and Cheryl Davis, Richard and Dian Disantis, the Jeffery Wallace Ellis Trust in memory of Lloyd H. Ellis Jr., Leigh and Andy Fabens, Florence Kahane Goodman, Martha H. and Steven M. Hale, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Linda Harper, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., the estate of Walter and Jean Kalberer, Jane and Doug Kern, the late Mrs. Nancy M. Lavelle, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, William S. Lipscomb, Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Roy Minoff Family Fund, Lu Anne and the late Carl Morrison, Mrs. Peta and the late Dr. Roland Moskowitz, Jeffrey Mostade and Eric Nilson and Varun Shetty, Sarah Nash, Courtney and Michael Novak, Tim O’Brien and Breck Platner, Dr. Nicholas and Anne Ogan, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, Henry Ott-Hansen, the Pickering Foundation, Frank and Fran Porter, Christine Fae Powell, Peter and Julie Raskind, Michael and Cindy Resch, Marguerite and James Rigby, in memory of Dee Schafer, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, Elizabeth and Tim Sheeler, Saundra K. Stemen, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Claudia Woods and David Osage.

The Cleveland Museum of Art is funded in part by residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

This exhibition was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts.

logotypes for Cuyahoga arts and culture and the Ohio Arts Council