Herm and Caryatid

Through his collecting and artistic practices, amateur English artist John Skippe demonstrated a preference for antiquarian themes. Influenced by drawings he collected during his travels throughout Europe, many of his prints reproduce works by Old Master artists. “Herm and Caryatid” presents two images of sculpted architectural supports inspired by ancient Greek and Roman examples, printed on a single sheet in green and black. The left woodcut depicts a herm, a square pillar surmounted by the torso and head of bearded man; and the right presents the caryatid, a similar square pillar with its upper portion carved with the torso and head of a woman. The caryatid replicates a similar drawing of the same subject now in the collection of the British Museum that was once credited to Raphael, but is no longer attributed to any specific artist.