The Triumph of Truth over Envy, Plate 24 (1781): Art, History and Details

The Triumph of Truth over Envy, Plate 24 (1781) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Maria Catharina Prestel (German, 1747–1794); Jacopo Ligozzi (Italian, 1547-1627).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

As drawings became increasingly sought-after items by collectors in the 1700s, enterprising printmakers created ever-more convincing reproductions for the expanding market. Aquatint, a relatively new etching technique at the time, allowed artists like Maria Catharina Prestel to more faithfully replicate the wide range of tones common in wash drawings. This is visible, for example, in the swirling clouds surrounding the raised fist of Truth. Prestel also developed a technique to translate the golden highlights of the original drawing. She printed additional inked lines to which she adhered powdered gold leaf while they were still wet.

Object facts

• Title: The Triumph of Truth over Envy, Plate 24
• Date: 1781
• Creator attribution: Maria Catharina Prestel (German, 1747–1794); Jacopo Ligozzi (Italian, 1547-1627)
• Culture: Germany, 18th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: Etching and aquatint printed in brown ink with gold leaf
• Dimensions: Image and Sheet: 30.5 x 22.9 cm (12 x 9 in.)
• Collection: PR - Etching
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1939.169

A detail from the museum

Maria Catharina Prestel and her husband reproduced famous drawings from collections across Europe.

Collection credit

Gift of Leonard C. Hanna Jr., for the Coralie Walker Hanna Memorial Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Milliken, William. "The Coralie Walker Hanna Memorial Collection Gift of Leonard C Hanna." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 26, no. 6 (June 1939): 84-115

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.