Allegory of Life

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Allegory of Life

Artist Giorgio Ghisi (Italian (Mantua), 1520-1582)

Date1561

Dimensions14 7/8 x 21 1/4 in. (38.2 x 54.1 cm)

Mediumengraving

ClassificationPrints

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1982.90

Not on View

Label TextThe meaning of this fascinating image remains unclear. The Latin inscriptions below the man and armed woman are quotes from Book 6 of Virgil’s Aeneid and read in translation: “The unhappy one sits and will sit forever”; and “Do not yield to adversaries, but go out and meet them bravely.” The context of the inscriptions is the hero Aeneas’s descent into the Underworld, where he encounters the spirit of his father. While not an illustration of any one particular episode, the image appears to be a moral allegory warning against the temptations of idleness and the vain pursuit of virtue. The fantastical sea creatures, hybrid monsters, and demonic leopards and lions are personifications of luxury, pride, and greed, among other worldly temptations. The creatures are references to the Inferno (Hell), the first poem in the famous 14th-century trilogy La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy) by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri.Published ReferencesToledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 140-41, repr. (col.) and (det.).Exhibition HistoryToledo, Toledo Museum of Art, Speaking Visual: Learning the Language of Art, Oct. 31, 2014-Jan. 25, 2015.