{"secondaryobjectnumber":null,"periodterms":[],"creditline":"Museum purchase, by exchange, Caroline G. Mather Fund","caption":"Giorgio Ghisi (Italian, 1520–1582), Allegory of Life, 1561. Engraving; 38 × 54 cm (plate, sheet trimmed to plate). Museum purchase, by exchange, Caroline G. Mather Fund (x1984-329)","cultureterms":[{"id":2031625,"culture":"Italian"},{"id":2031563,"culture":"European"}],"type":"artobject","dimensionsproposed":"","terms":[{"id":2055694,"term":"landscapes (representations)","aatid":300015636,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2088270,"term":"men","aatid":300025928,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2122175,"term":"allegories","aatid":300202507,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2031625,"term":"Italian","aatid":300111198,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2054256,"term":"prints","aatid":300041273,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2088280,"term":"women","aatid":300025943,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2055657,"term":"figures (representations)","aatid":300189808,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2054522,"term":"engravings","aatid":300041340,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2031563,"term":"European","aatid":300020656,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2167714,"term":"printing ink","aatid":300187371,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2154917,"term":"engraving (printing process)","aatid":300053225,"termtype":"Techniques"}],"geography":[{"displaygeography":"Place made: Europe, Italy, Mantua","code":"Place made","continent":"Europe","subcontinent":null,"country":"Italy","region":null,"state":null,"city":"Mantua","county":null,"subregion":null,"locale":null,"locus":null,"river":null,"excavation":null,"geoname":"http://www.geonames.org/3174051/mantova.html","location":{"lat":"","lon":""}}],"dimensionelements":[{"element":"plate","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"38.00"},{"element":"plate","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"54.00"}],"markings":null,"accessionyear":"1984-01-01","newaccession":0,"makers":[{"id":6111,"displayname":"Giorgio Ghisi","displaydate":"Italian, 1520–1582","datebegin":1520,"dateend":1582,"prefix":null,"suffix":null,"role":"Artist","displaymaker":"Giorgio Ghisi, Italian, 1520–1582","displayorder":1}],"datecomputed":1561,"signed":null,"restrictions":null,"classification":"Prints","packages":[{"packageid":207234,"name":"SAB_Gala2021"},{"packageid":27815,"name":"Web_K2_Night Prints_2014_10"}],"catalograisonne":"Bartsch 412.67; Lewis 28","classifications":[{"id":2054256,"classification":"prints"},{"id":2054522,"classification":"engravings"}],"exhibitions":[],"cultures":[],"primaryimage":["https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/INV10208"],"displaytitle":"Allegory of Life","displayculture":null,"displaymaker":"Giorgio Ghisi, Italian, 1520–1582","captionhtml":"Giorgio Ghisi (Italian, 1520–1582), <i>Allegory of Life</i>, 1561. Engraving; 38 × 54 cm (plate, sheet trimmed to plate). Museum purchase, by exchange, Caroline G. Mather Fund (x1984-329)","displaydate":"1561","medium":"Engraving","media":[{"id":12295,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/x1984-329_GS","isprimary":0,"rank":10,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Luna Digitization Project"},{"id":83505,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/INV10208","isprimary":1,"rank":1,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Inventory Project"}],"displayperiod":null,"extended_content":false,"campuscollections":"false","bibliography":[{"boilertext":"\"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1984,\" <EM>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University </EM>44, no. 1 (1985): p. 24-52.","citation":"\"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1984,\" <EM>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University </EM>44, no. 1 (1985): p. 24-52., pp. 26–27 (illus.)","date":1985,"id":3134,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774658"},{"boilertext":"Michal and R.E. Lewis, <EM>The Engravings of Giorgio Ghisi</EM> (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1985).","citation":"Michal and R.E. Lewis, <EM>The Engravings of Giorgio Ghisi</EM> (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1985)., no. 28","date":1985,"id":6283,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/11519653"}],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[],"department":"Prints and Drawings","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199327,"term":"Prints and Drawings","termtype":"Collecting Area"}],"daterange":"A.D. 1500-1600","dateend":1561,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"Allegory of Life","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":null,"objectnumber":"x1984-329","inscribed":"Inscribed in plate on tablet, center: SEDET ALTERNVM / QVE SEDEBIT I FOELIX \r\n\r\nSigned in plate on plaque in boat, center: Ghisi / Mat F / 1561\r\n\r\nInscribed in plate on tablet, lower left corner: RAPHAELIS VRBINATIS INVENTVM. / PHILIPPVS DATVS ANIMI GRATIA / FIERS IVSSIT. \r\n\r\nInscribed in plate on tablet, lower right: TV NE CEDE MALIS: SEB / COTRA  AVDENTIOR ITO","texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"\r\nDarkness dominates this dense and mysterious engraving by the virtuoso Italian printmaker Giorgio Ghisi, who spent half of his career in Antwerp and France. While the scene’s precise meaning remains elusive, the subject is thought to be an allegory about the adversities of life, as experienced by the bearded old man leaning against a blasted tree. Marooned on a rocky promontory and surrounded by various creatures, including the nocturnal owl and bat, he reaches imploringly toward a crowned woman, perhaps representing wisdom or reason, who strides in from the lower right. The symbolic passage from the darkness of despair to light-filled optimism is signified in the upper portion of the print, by the crescent moon on the left and the rising sun on the right, with a rainbow and stormy weather between them.</P></SPAN>","remarks":"K2 paper rotation--In the Dark "}],"datebegin":1561,"sortnumber":"1984  329x","published_date":"2026-02-11 09:01:10.464427","objectid":15418,"dimensions":"plate (sheet trimmed to plate): 38 × 54 cm (14 15/16 × 21 1/4 in.)","on_view":false}