The print industry in Bologna ca: 1570-1640

• Main Author: Takahatake, Naoko
• Published: University of Oxford 2007
• Subjects: 686.2093726109031
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.491056

The purpose of this study is to examine three main areas of the print industry in the publishing centre of Bologna during the period of ca. 1570-1640: the production, publishing and trade of printed images. This thesis charts the developments in printmaking and publishing from the emergence of Domenico Tibaldi through the following two generations of artist-printmakers, led by the Carracci and Guido Reni. Bologna in this period was an innovative centre of Italy, at once a leading city of the Italian Counter-Reformation, the seat of a pre-eminent university, and the stage for great artistic developments. A convergence of historical conditions encouraged the development of an independent print trade in the final three decades of the 16 century, and shaped the prodigious increase in professional printmaking and publishing witnessed in the 70 years considered in this study.