Original engraving, signed and dated on plate; Bartsch, XIII, 382.7; Hind V 213.13;
Splendid proof impressed with ashy ink, a shade frequently used by 16th-century Italian artists to give a soft effect similar to silverpoint drawing.
Complete with the entire engraved part and with a margin line on the lower, upper and right sides. In exceptional state of preservation.On the recto of the sheet, in the lower right-hand corner, the collection stamp of Frederick Augustus II, King of Saxony, who assembled one of the most significant and extensive collections of prints of the time (Lugt 791); later the sheet was purchased by Mrs. H.V. Jones (the specimen is cited by Hind, vol. V p. 213). Finally, as the collection stamp on the verso of the sheet indicates, it was the Swiss engineer Albert Blum who acquired the print in his famous collection of 16th century German and Italian engravings (Lugt 79b).
Domenico Campagnola, adopted by Giulio Campagnola - from whom he takes his surname - showed great aptitude for drawing and graphics from an early age. He probably learnt his first artistic rudiments from Titian, who influenced his early works, so much so that it was difficult to distinguish the authorship of some drawings. In spite of Titian, however, Domenico is attracted to movement and actions of emotional impact, on which he pivots his protagonists. He is inspired by his adoptive father in the stippling tecnique (with a multitudes of tiny dots or dashes) that allows both of them to achieve refined three-dimensional effects unprecedented at the time.
He is credited with thirteen engravings produced in the short period between 1517 and 1518, many of which are characterised by fast oblique marks that distinguish them from the panorama of the time and attest to his extraordinary compositional invention.
The subject of the reclining nude Venus with landscape became very popular in early 16th century Venice and then spread throughout Europe. The work bears many similarities to a drawing by his adoptive father, one of Giorgione's closest artists. Besides the technical differences, the engraver treats the protagonist with particular and distinctive signs and characters. Indeed, Venus is shown more vivacious and sensual than others depicted by Giorgione and his circle, and with a gaze more aware of her own beauty.