The Printed World: Masterpieces of Seventeenth-Century European Printmaking opens February 3 and remains on view through March 24, 2019, at the Harnett Museum of Art, University of Richmond Museums. The seventeenth century, often called the age of the Baroque, was a period that saw important changes to European society and culture. The settlement of the Americas and continuing exploration of the planet, motivated by religion and commerce, are symbolic of the ambitious spirit of the time, which confronted newness in many realms. In particular, the scientific revolution, with the invention of the telescope and the microscope, furthered new ways of seeing the world empirically. This is also an important era of consolidation: in politics, rulers such as Louis XIV of France and Philip IV of Spain dominated; the religious climate included the Counter-Reformation seeking to overcome Protestant beliefs that had arisen in the sixteenth century; and large-scale wars were carried out by sacred and secular armies.

These historical changes had a deep impact on the art of the time, perhaps nowhere more extensively than in the medium of prints, which were quickly distributed and had broad and engaged audiences. Etching became the dominant form of expression, with great artists such as Rembrandt exploiting the aesthetic capabilities of the medium. In seventeenth-century prints, subjects from biblical and classical literature reached a new refinement, while landscape achieved a new prominence. The exhibition examines these developing genres and how they were depicted by the printmakers of the Baroque period.