Sharing Images

This book is the first full-length study into the multifarious influence of Renaissance prints on maiolica and bronze. Focusing on designs by major artists such as Andrea Mantegna, Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Parmigianino, and Albrecht Dürer, the book tells the story of how printed images were transmitted, transformed, and translated onto ceramics and small bronze reliefs, creating a shared visual canon across artistic media and geographical boundaries. Prized by princes and popes, and collected by scholars and diplomats, brightly painted maiolica and minutely crafted bronze reliefs are among the most beautiful and intriguing objects produced in the period. Although seemingly unrelated and usually exhibited in isolation, ceramics and bronzes are in fact bound by the complex network of connections they share with prints and illustrated books. Sharing Images provides a comprehensive introduction to different aspects of the phenomenon, from the role of 15th-century prints and the rediscovery of ancient art to the importance of illustrated books and the artistic exchanges between Italy and northern Europe.