# Venus Reclining in a Landscape

**Giulio Campagnola** (Italian, 1482–1515)  
c. 1508–9  
engraving  
Platemark: 11.9 x 18.3 cm (4 11/16 x 7 3/16 in.); Sheet: 11.9 x 18.3 cm (4 11/16 x 7 3/16 in.)

Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1931.205. [The museum's record](https://clevelandart.org/art/1931.205).

## About this work

The Venetian artist Giulio Campagnola introduced the "dot manner," an engraving technique by which shading is created with dots and flicks produced with the point of the burin. This innovation allowed for a much greater range of tone and subtler gradations from dark to light. The effect imitated sfumato, a painting technique for creating soft atmospheric effects practiced by Venetian artists, such as Giorgione, at the time. The influence of and perhaps even the engraver’s collaboration with Giorgione is reflected in the extraordinary beauty and refinement of this rare early impression of Venus Reclining in a Landscape . The female nude reclining in a landscape was to become a distinctly Venetian subject in the 1500s.

_Text from the Cleveland Museum of Art._

Giulio Campagnola made this in about 1508–9, aged about 26. It is now at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

### How it was made

- **Engraving.** Lines cut directly into a metal plate with a steel burin, which makes them swell and taper. It took years to master, and for centuries it was how paintings travelled as pictures.

### [Giulio Campagnola](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/giulio-campagnola)

Italian, 1482–1515

## Facts

- Type: Print
- Culture: Italy, late 15th-early 16th Century
- The artist was about 26
- Real size: about 4½ × 7 in (12 × 18 cm). The original is small: even the 8 × 10 in print shows it larger than life.
- Century: 16th century
- Movement: [Renaissance](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/renaissance)
- Colour: white
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/527.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/527/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/venus-reclining-in-a-landscape-cma-112586).