Parmigianino, A Virgin and Child

Printmaking in woodcut and engraving came to Northern Italy within a few decades of their invention north of the Alps. Engraving probably came first to Florence in the 1440s, the goldsmith Maso Finiguerra (1426–64) used the technique. Italian engraving caught the very early Renaissance, 1460–1490. Print copying was a widely accepted practice, as well as copying of paintings viewed as images in their own right.

Delamotte was born in 1821 in Birmingham, England. He began his career as an illustrator, working for publishers such as Charles Knight and the Illustrated London News. In the 1850s he turned to photography, becoming one of the earliest practitioners of the medium. Delamotte's photographic work focused on architecture and landscapes, and he was particularly interested in capturing the Gothic Revival style that was popular in Victorian England. He also documented the construction of the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition of 1851. In addition to his photographic work, Delamotte continued to work as an illustrator, producing drawings and engravings for books and magazines. He also taught drawing and watercolour painting at the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum). Delamotte died in 1889, leaving a legacy as a photographer and illustrator of Victorian England. His photographs are now in collections around the world, including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.