Chiaroscuro in Italy seems to have emerged as a means of reproducing of pen, ink and wash drawings. This print reproduces a drawing by Raffaellino da Reggio made in 1550-1578. However, its final effect is closer to a carved relief than an imitation of the drawing itself.
Andrea Andreani's earliest dated chiaroscuro print reproduced a woodcut illustration of a sculpture group by Giambologna of the Rape of the Sabines, unveiled in Florence in 1583. In his Florentine woodcuts he used darker tone blocks to define the figures, giving a three dimensional effect.

From 1586, in Sienna, his style evolved further into using line blocks for the main design, the colour blocks providing background and highlights. This brought his technique closer to the German expression of the medium, where the outline design could usually stand alone without the colour block. Andreani's best known chiaroscuro prints are the plates forming the Triumphs of Caesar frieze after Mantegna's designs.