Saint Mark Saving a Slave from Torture, from Opera Selectiora

The British expatriate artist and wallpaper maker John Baptist Jackson took it upon himself to revive the art of chiaroscuro woodcut carving, which he believed had declined since its heyday in the 16th century. He published a monumental portfolio of complex color woodblock prints after 17 Italian Renaissance paintings in 1745, including several in multiple-sheet diptychs and triptychs. Each includes at least four blocks in a variety of overlapping browns and grays. The prints comes from a book, the Opera Selectoria (Select Works), which he printed in Venice. The Art Institute’s Ryerson Library possesses a complete copy.