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Giorgio Ghisi

Allegory of Life

Maker

Giorgio Ghisi (Italian, 1520-1582), engraver

Title

Allegory of Life

Year

1561

Medium

  • engraving,
  • trimmed within platemark

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • engraving,
  • trimmed within platemark

Materials

engraving

Supports

  • medium weight tan laid paper

Dimensions

Plate: 37.8 x 54.1 cm (14 7/8 x 21 5/16 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Lettered LL: "Raphaelis Urbinatis Inventum. / Philippus Datus Animi Gratia / Fieri Iussit"; on tablets, within image: "Sedet Aeternum / que Sedebit Infoelix" and "Giorgius / Ghisi / Ma.t / .F. 1.5.6.1"; and LR: "Tu Ne Cede Malis: Sed [...]ntra Audentior Ito"

Identification

State

ii/vi

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum Works of Art Fund

Object Number

57.032

Type

  • Prints

Publications

  • Books

The Brilliant Line: Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650

Renaissance engravings are objects of exquisite beauty and incomparable intricacy that are composed entirely of lines. Artists began using this intaglio process in Europe as early as 1430. This captivating catalogue focuses on the height of the medium, from 1480 to 1650, when engravers made dramatic and rapid visual changes to engraving technique as they responded to the demands of reproducing artworks in other media. The Brilliant Line follows these visual transformations and offers new insight into the special inventiveness and technical virtuosity of Renaissance and Baroque (Early Modern) engravers. The three essays discuss how engraving’s restrictive materials and the physical process of engraving informed its visual language; the context for the spread of particular engraving styles throughout Europe; and the interests, knowledge, and skills that Renaissance viewers applied when viewing and comparing engravings by style or school.

Exhibition History

The Brilliant Line
Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650
Sep 18, 2009 – Jan 03, 2010

Label copy

This engraving-with its myriad effects, such as shining stars, turbulent water, and a distant rainbow-exhibits Giorgio Ghisi’s organized, rich chiaroscuro approach at its finest. By varying the direction and density of lines, Ghisi retained the clarity of composition even while filling every inch of the plate in a kind of horror vacui. Such overall tonal coverage would become the standard for reproductive engravings in the late 16th and 17th centuries.

A tablet at the lower left claims Raphael as the inventor, but scholars are not convinced that he devised the print (made several decades after his death); rather, it is probably of Ghisi’s own invention. The engraving is an allegory, which, in the most general terms, depicts the two paths of good and evil. The bearded man, at left, has badly guided the boat of his own existence to a shore populated by jagged peaks and ferocious beasts. He reaches out toward a woman on the other side of a turbulent sea. She may represent Reason, or perhaps Glory, as she rests her hand on a palm tree, a symbol of victory. A rainbow in the distance intimates the possibility of hope and perhaps salvation. Two tablets featuring quotes from Virgil’s Aeneid near each of the figures reference unrequited love, adding even more mystery to the ultimate meaning of the image.

The Landscape Tradition in Printmaking
Jan 19, 1990 – Apr 22, 1990
Prints and Drawings with a Classical Reference
Dec 15, 1965 – Jan 09, 1966

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Giorgio Ghisi (Italian, 1520-1582), engraver
Allegory of Life, 1561
Engraving, trimmed within platemark
Plate: 37.8 x 54.1 cm (14 7/8 x 21 5/16 inches)
Museum Works of Art Fund 57.032

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