Psyche Enters the Underworld

The Renaissance print Psyche Enters the Underworld (1530-1540) is an important illustration of artistic transmission and reproductive printmaking during the 16th century. This specific artwork, an engraving executed in warm brown ink on cream laid paper, was produced by the Master of the Die, an Italian artist active between 1530 and 1560. The complex lineage of the composition highlights the critical role of prints in disseminating High Renaissance Italian aesthetics across Europe; Die created this work after a design by the Flemish artist Michiel Coxcie I, who in turn adapted a celebrated composition by Raffaello Sanzio, known as Raphael.

Operating primarily in Italy, Die was a prolific printmaker known for capturing and popularizing the monumental style of Raphael and his circle. The engraving depicts the mythological climax of Apuleius’s Metamorphoses, illustrating Psyche’s descent into the underworld to retrieve the box of Proserpina. The meticulous detail and precise line work demonstrated in this work are hallmarks of early 16th-century prints, designed to accurately translate complex painted compositions into the reproducible medium of engraving.

Dating from the 1530s, this piece belongs firmly to the cultural sphere of Italian Renaissance printmaking, enabling Raphael’s influential designs to reach a wider audience of artists and patrons. The historical significance and technical quality of the piece position it as a key entry in the holdings of the Art Institute of Chicago. Like many major historical works housed in institutional collections, this important example of Renaissance prints is often accessible through public domain resources, promoting scholarship and wider appreciation of early Italian artistic practices.