The School of Athens, 1550

About the Work

Hieronymus Cock was responsible for bringing the native Italian Giorgio Ghisi to Antwerp. The latter soon set standards there with his nuanced engraving technique, with which he managed to lend figures a three-dimensional effect. Among his most influential works was the reproduction of Raphael’s School of Athens. It was thanks to Ghisi that the monumental fresco in the Vatican Palace in Rome became known to a larger circle of artists and art lovers north of the Alps.