Allegory of Carnal Love
Cristofano Robetta
c. 1530
Medium
Engraving on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
30.2 × 20.8 cm (11 15/16 × 8 1/4 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
4370
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
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?