Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione 1870

Here is an engraving made by Henri Dubouchet in nineteenth-century France. It’s a copy of Raphael’s famous painting of Baldassare Castiglione. The original portrait was made in Rome around 1515. Castiglione was an Italian courtier, diplomat, and author. He’s best known for writing "The Book of the Courtier," a manual of conduct that defined Renaissance ideals of refinement and virtue. Raphael's portrait captures Castiglione's air of cultivated intellect. Dubouchet made this engraving at a time when the idea of the Renaissance man was in vogue. Institutions like museums and academies promoted the study of Renaissance art as a source of cultural pride and national identity. Reproductions like this one made great works accessible to a wider audience. To understand this print, we can consult not only art historical sources but also historical archives and libraries. This gives us an insight into how images acquire meaning within specific social and institutional contexts.