Cleveland Museum of Art

Allegory of Carnal Love

Cristofano Robetta

Date

c. 1530

Medium

engraving

Culture

Italy, 20th century

Department

Prints

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This enigmatic group of figures is most likely an allegory (a representation of an abstract idea) centered on human love. The winged Cupid lashes a man’s arm to a tree, while a long sash binds together two couples who hungrily touch one another. A figure of ambiguous sex at left holds the end of the sash. The print may be related to Neoplatonic love treatises in Florence. One such treatise argued that the sense of touch operates between sensual and spiritual realms, an idea embodied by Hermaphroditus, an intersex figure described in Greek myth. A direct connection remains elusive. Robetta worked in a manner of engraving known as the fine manner, characterized by its extremely fine lines combined with crosshatching and dots.

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