Venus Reclining in a Landscape, c.1508-09 (engraving)

Campagnola introduced stipple, a technique in which shading is obtained by dots produced by the point of the graver, an innovation that allowed for a much greater range of tone from white to black and a more controllable graduated transition between the lighter and darker areas of the image. Stipple helped Campagnola achieve the effect of sfumato, subtle gradations of light and dark to model figures, which Giorgione was utilizing in painting 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.