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The Garden of Venus who reclines in the centre before a term of Pan and surrounded by cupids

Pietro Testa Italian
ca. 1631–37
Not on view
It was especially for his skill as a draftsman and printmaker that the rather tragic figure of Pietro Testa became known. Before his early death at the age of thirty-eight, he spent most of his career in Rome, where he worked in the studios of Domenichino (1581-1641) and Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669) and associated with artists and scholars who, like him, were especially interested in the Classical tradition. In the Garden of Venus, Testa drew inspiration from the paintings of Nicolas Poussin and Titian's Worship of Venus (1518-19; Museo del Prado, Madrid), populated by an equally large throng of amorini and itself based on a description of an ancient painting in the Imagines by the Greek writer Philostratus the Elder (born ca. a.d. 190). Testa's etchings were admired as much for their skillful technique as their brilliant invention. In this impressive print, remarkable effects of space, texture, and shimmering light are achieved through rapid, energetic lines and the use of selective plate tone and multiple biting.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Garden of Venus who reclines in the centre before a term of Pan and surrounded by cupids
  • Artist: Pietro Testa (Italian, Lucca 1612–1650 Rome)
  • Date: ca. 1631–37
  • Medium: Etching
  • Dimensions: Image: 13 1/2 x 16 5/16 in. (34.3 x 41.5 cm)
    Sheet: 13 3/4 x 16 11/16 in. (35 x 42.4 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926
  • Object Number: 26.70.3(44)
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Plato's symposium: Socrates and his companions seated around a table discussing ideal love interruputed by Acibiades at left, Pietro Testa Italian, Etching
Plato's symposium: Socrates and his companions seated around a table discussing ideal love interruputed by Acibiades at left
Pietro Testa
Vicenzo Billi
1648
Achilles dragging the body of Hector around the walls of Troy
Pietro Testa
ca. 1648–50
The Adoration of the Magi, set before and architectural colonnade
Pietro Testa
ca 1650–60
Self portait as an artist, holding a drawing board and implement, Pietro Testa Italian, Etching
Self portait as an artist, holding a drawing board and implement
Pietro Testa
Arnold van Westerhout
ca. 1645
The deluge, figures being pulled from the water, Pietro Testa Italian, Etching
The deluge, figures being pulled from the water
Pietro Testa
ca. 1640–42

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