Gian Giacomo Caraglio

1505 Verona – 1565 Cracow

The engraver, goldsmith and gem cutter Gian Giacomo Caraglio was one of the most important engravers in Marcantonio Raimondi’s circle in Rome in the 1520s. The artist probably settled there in 1524, after having previously worked in Parma, where he had evidently been in close contact with Francesco Parmigianino. As a reproductive engraver, Caraglio possessed considerable technical skill and versatility and could effortlessly adapt to the preferred style of his models. For Marcantonio’s publisher Baviera he produced numerous engravings after drawings by Rosso Fiorentino, which brilliantly translate the mannerist refinement and highly individual expressiveness of Rosso’s art into the medium of engraving. After the traumatic experience of the Sack of Rome in 1527 Caraglio, unlike many other artists of his time, did not leave the city, although the exact duration of his sojourn in Rome is unknown. At all events he was demonstrably active in Venice in 1533–34, where he belonged to the circle of Titian and Pietro Aretino.