In printmaking, a state is a different form of a print, caused by a deliberate and permanent change to a matrix such as a copper plate or woodblock.
The Three Crosses, drypoint by Rembrandt. This is state III of 1653. State IV is believed to date from 1660, and looks very different, as Rembrandt greatly reworked and darkened the composition. State III is easy to identify, as only it has a visible signature.
Girolamo Mocetto, Judith with the Head of Holofernes (1500/05), engraving after Andrea Mantegna, second state. In the first state the background is plain; the landscape of state II was probably added some years later.
The Battle of the Nudes or Battle of the Naked Men, probably dating from 1465–1475, is an engraving by the Florentine goldsmith and sculptor Antonio del Pollaiuolo which is one of the most significant
State (printmaking)
…in 1967, after it was sold to Cleveland, that it was realised that what had long been famous as the best impression of the highly important print, the Battle of the Nudes by Antonio del Pollaiuolo (1465–75) was the unique surviving impression of a previously unrecognised first state. This is especially surprising as the…
The print of Battle of the Nudes in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art is the only known first-state impression of the piece.
Battle of the Nude Men by Antonio del Pollaiuolo, 1465–1475. Engraving 42.4 × 60.9 cm. Second-state impression
Worn second-state impression from Kansas, but enlarges well in two stages
Worn second-state impression from New York; as with most engravings, reproduction on a small scale does not convey the quality of the image well. The print has been folded in four in the past.