Grotesque engraving (Nicoletto da Modena)  

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Grotesque engraving[1] on paper, about 1500–1512, Italy V&A Museum no. E.180-1885 Artist/designer: Nicoletto da Modena. This engraving shows a dense grotesque design. Two of the figures in the print are copied from Nero’s Golden House, the wildly extravagant palace the emperor built for himself after the great fire of Rome. Nicoletto’s grotesque prints were among the first to be published. The theme of the grotesque – referring to designs with human and animal forms and foliage – was a popular one around this period.[2]

Nicoletto scratched his name there in the Golden House in 1507. However, his dense and imaginative style is closer to different types of grotesque designed by the Italian painter Bernardo Pinturicchio (active in the late 15th century), rather than the Roman original. Nicoletto’s grotesque prints were among the first to be published. The theme of the grotesque – referring to designs with human and animal forms and foliage – was a popular one around this period. The print was published by Antonio Salamanca, a 16th century Italian print publisher.