An Allegory of Abundance
c. 1515
Medium
Engraving in black on cream laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 25.2 × 18.3 cm (9 15/16 × 7 1/4 in.); Plate/sheet: 25.6 × 18.5 cm (10 1/8 × 7 5/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
4367
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This engraving depicts a seated female figure holding a staff surmounted by an urn filled with flowers, fruit, and wheat, similar to the urn traditionally held by Ceres, the Roman goddess of the harvest. The child grasping the figure’s breast in a fertility gesture suggests an alternate identity, that of the earth goddess Tellus. Robetta rendered the rocky terrain with heavy clusters of undulating curves, a technique likely inspired by early-16th-century engravings by Albrecht Dürer. The cartell...