Cleveland Museum of Art
Allegory of Life
Giorgio GhisiLinkedCulture matchlcp-7db0c19dfa1a
- Date
- 1561
- Medium
- engraving
- Culture
- Italy, 16th century
- Department
- Prints
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 152554
From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
This engraving presents a complex allegory whose complete meaning remains unclear, although the plaques at the feet of the man and woman may provide one clue. The inscriptions come from the sixth book of Virgil’s Aeneid : "He who sits unfortunate will sit forever," and "Do not yield to adversities, but go out to meet them bravely." The print’s details do not correspond directly to any episode from Virgil, although book six, in which Aeneas descends into the underworld, is an allegory of human life. A similar theme could be suggested here, communicating an essentially hopeful message of overcoming tribulation. Ghisi was trained in the creation of luxury metalwork, specifically armor, informing his highly skilled and complex engraving of the copperplate used to make this print.
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Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Provenance
- Earl Spencer [1708-1746], Althorp, stamp (Lugt Supp. 2341a), lower left, in blue | ?–1985: (Artemis Fine Arts, Ltd., London, England), sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH | March 25, 1985–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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