Antonio Canal, called CANALETTO, Italy, 1697 - 1768, The tower of Marghera, from the series Vedute (Views), c.1740-44, Venice, Italy, etching on paper, 29.9 x 42.9 cm (plate), 41.6 x 58.5 cm (sheet); Morgan Thomas Bequest Fund 1964, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.
A Beautiful Line: Italian prints from Mantegna to Piranesi
In a rare opportunity, some of the masterpieces of Italian printmaking are on display in the exhibition A beautiful line. The exhibition comprises of 140 Italian prints from the mid-fifteenth to the late-eighteenth centuries drawn from the rich collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia.
Highlights include Andrea Mantegna’s Renaissance masterpiece The Entombment, woodcuts by Titian and his contemporaries, and G.B. Piranesi’s dark and evocative prints of imaginary prisons from the eighteenth century. Major print makers are examined and the virtuosity and diversity of printmaking during this period is explored through religious, mythological, and architectural subjects.