Diogenes
c. 1524–27
Medium
chiaroscuro woodcut (in four shades of green)
Dimensions
{"sheet":{"height":0.477,"width":0.347}}
Classification
Department
Prints
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
The Charles W. Harkness Endowment Fund
Accession Number
1923.1052
Tags
About this artwork
Diogenes was a Greek philosopher who lived during the 300s BC. The bird in the background alludes to his cynical response to Plato, who had described man as a featherless biped. Diogenes plucked a rooster and brought it to Plato’s school, exclaiming, “Here is Plato’s man!” Ugo da Carpi was influential in the development of the chiaroscuro woodcut in Italy. The term chiaroscuro combines the Italian words chiaro (light) and scuro (dark). Invented to emulate drawings with light and dark pigments on...