Fotoreproductie van een prent naar de Madonna del Pesce door Rafaël before 1861

This is a photogravure made by Gustav Schauer in the 19th century, reproducing Raphael's famous painting "Madonna del Pesce." The original painting, created in early 16th-century Italy, reflected the religious and artistic values of the Renaissance, where the Church played a central role in both society and artistic patronage. Schauer's photogravure is from a very different time and place. We can consider how this reproduction participates in a nineteenth-century culture of reproductive printmaking, which made canonical artworks available to a wider audience. The institutional structure of art education in this time was centered on the reproduction of existing artworks, so photogravures like this played an important role in shaping the next generation of artists. By researching the history of printmaking, we can understand how social and economic changes have shaped the production, distribution, and reception of art. What does it mean for an artwork to become so famous that it can be reproduced in a photogravure like this one?