Nude woman viewed from behind holding fabric which blows behind her, looking at male nude standing in contrapposto in front of her. 1495 - 1539

This small print was made by Marcantonio Raimondi, an Italian engraver active in the 16th century. The process here is engraving, meaning that Raimondi would have used a tool called a burin to manually incise lines into a copper plate. Ink is then rubbed into these lines, and the image transferred to paper through a printing press. The resulting image is characterized by its fine, precise lines and subtle gradations of tone, which can be seen particularly in the figures' musculature. Engraving was a highly skilled craft, demanding years of training to master. While prints could be made in multiples, each impression still required careful labor. Raimondi was one of the first to realize the reproductive potential of engraving, making prints after the designs of other artists, most notably Raphael. This created a new market for art, making it accessible to a wider audience and establishing a system of artistic distribution that continues to this day. So, think of this print not just as an image, but as an example of early art production, with all the social and economic implications that entails.