‘An Immense Field with Shady Groves’, Matteo Ripa, after Shen Yu, 1712 - 1714
engraving, h 324mm × w 357mm More details
While experimenting with copperplate engraving, Ripa was asked by the emperor to take on a few pupils. The sky and water in this print (and the adjacent one) lack hatching, and black dots represent lotus blossoms in the water. This unconventional approach for engraving suggests that these prints may have been the work of Ripa’s apprentices.
