Allegory of Carnal Love

Description

Cristofano Robetta’s Allegory of Carnal Love depicts a scene of love and death in a friezelike composition, with two pairs of lovers in a triangle-like formation with a putto at each point. Standing at the far left of the scene is an enigmatic divine figure drawing in the bodies of the lovers closest to him with his sash. Is he, like the skull underfoot, a symbol of death, reminding the viewer of what lies in store?

Allegory of Carnal Love

Cristofano Robetta

c. 1530

Accession Number

4370

Medium

Engraving on ivory laid paper

Dimensions

30.2 × 20.8 cm (11 15/16 × 8 1/4 in.)

Classification

engraving

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Bequest of Mrs. Potter Palmer, Jr.