Raphael and His Mistress

This chiaroscuro woodcut is a reverse copy of one created by Italian printmaker Ugo da Carpi in the 1520s after a design credited to Renaissance artist Raphael Sanzio, although a drawn or painted source has yet to be identified. The enigmatic scene depicts a bearded man standing and speaking to a seated woman who seems to be listing intently as she leans forward and rests her chin on her hand. Unlike Ugo da Carpi’s earlier version composed with three woodblocks, the creator of this copy employed four blocks: one printing ochre and three to impart shades of brown from light to very dark. The presence of the copy in King Philip II of Spain’s print collection formed in the 1560s or 1570s (now housed at the Escorial) provides evidence of a production date for the print no later than the 1570s.