Triumph of Truth over Envy

Maria Katharina Prestel was a German printmaker who specialized in etching and aquatint. “The Triumph of Truth over Envy” closely recreates a drawing by Jacopo Ligozzi, including the use of gold to accentuate the highlights of the composition, a tactic employed by Ligozzi in the original drawing. Prestel and her husband, Johann Gottlieb Prestel, operated a workshop in Nuremberg that printed reproductions of Old Master paintings and drawings. After the Prestels’ separation in 1786, Maria Katharina moved to London and continued to work independently as a printmaker. Although the inscription at the lower right corner names Johann Gottlieb as the print’s maker, scholars doubt this attribution. There is one impression without the signature at the Rijksmuseum and an inscription accompanying the original drawing and predating modern memory states that it was recreated as a print by Maria Katharina.