Bartolomeo Coriolano

Bartolommeo Coriolano (1590 or 1599–1676, pronunciation ko-ree-o-lă'no and sometimes spelled Coriolanus) was an Italian engraver during the Baroque period. His father, Cristoforo Coriolano, and brother, Giovanni Battista Coriolano were also woodblock printers, although there is some doubt over the actual relationship between Cristoforo and Bartolommeo Coriolano. Coriolano had a daughter, Teresa Maria Coriolano, who later became a painter and engraver.

Coriolano trained under the painter Guido Reni and modeled many of his woodblock prints on the work of his teacher, as was common. Coriolano was a traditional woodblock printer who followed the German style in printing. He was successful and popular, though not an innovator in the technique of woodblock printing. Eventually, he came to the attention of Pope Urban VII who granted Coriolano knighthood, as a "Roman count", and a pension. Coriolano's works are the most celebrated of the works produced by the Coriolano family.

Coriolano was born in Bologna in either 1590 or 1599, the son of Cristoforo Coriolano. He, like his brother Giambattista (born 1595 or 1589) became wood engravers like their father. Originally from Nuremberg, their father had moved to Venice and changed the family name to Lederer. His father died at Venice in 1600. With such a distance between Coriolano's first work, 1627, and the death of his father, the relationship of father and son is questionable. This is compounded by his father's career with Giorgio Vasari in 1568, making his father of a considerable age when Coriolano was born.

He was first instructed by his father at the Academy of the Incamminati, of the Carracci, at Bologna. He afterwards became a pupil of Reni, in whose studio he learned wood-engraving. After the successful woodblock printer Andrea Andreani died, Coriolano took his place. He worked at Bologna from 1630 to 1647, and was fond of developing the designs of Reni and Guercino.

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