Presentation of Christ

Born in Ferrara, Costa studied there with Cosimo Tura before moving to Bologna in the early 1480s. He traveled throughout Italy, ultimately settling in Mantua as court artist to the powerful Gonzaga family. This rich engraving of the biblical account of Christ’s introduction to the teachers at the temple in Jerusalem is after a 1502 painting by Costa for the church of Santa Maria della Vita in Bologna. It is unclear whether this work was engraved by the artist himself or was copied by an anonymous Bolognese engraver.