Many of us hold an engraving in our hand every day in the form of US currency. In Renaissance Europe, engraving was a new technology. Long the domain of goldsmiths, engraved lines appeared as prints on paper—possibly to record metalwork designs—in the mid-1400s. The potential of printed engravings quickly became clear: They provided the opportunity to reproduce artworks in other media with unprecedented refinement and to disseminate artistic compositions far and wide.