TRANSCENDING INVENTION: REEVALUATING THE STATUS OF SIXTEENTH TO SEVENTEENTH CENTURY REPRODUCTIVE PRINTS AND PRINTMAKERS

This thesis outlines and addresses historical misconceptions and undervaluation of reproductive prints and seeks to provide a more accurate view of reproductive printmaking in the Renaissance. Specifically, this study argues for a more nuanced understanding of the value attributed to reproductive prints during this period using the partnerships of Cornelis Cort and Titian and Rubens and Lucas Vorsterman as case studies. Through an examination of Cort’s and Vorsterman’s contemporaries' perceptions, this thesis aims to elucidate the esteem in which these printmakers and their works were held, while also tracing the rise of the reproductive printmaker over time. The cases examined in this thesis demonstrate a continuous tradition of esteem for the skillful and creative translation of painting to a different, entirely linear medium that offered the capacity to spread an artist’s name, art, and fame, painter and engraver alike.