The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 26, 2024

Diogenes

Diogenes

c. 1524–27
(Italian, c. 1479–c. 1532)
(Italian, 1503–1540)
Italy, 16th century
chiaroscuro woodcut (in four shades of green)
Sheet: 47.7 x 34.7 cm (18 3/4 x 13 11/16 in.)
The Charles W. Harkness Endowment Fund 1923.1052
Catalogue raisonné: Bartsch 10 (XII.100)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

In his Lives of the Artists (1550), Giorgio Vasari described Diogenes twice, praising it as Ugo da Carpi's most accomplished and beautiful print.

Description

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 tinted paper, the printing technique uses multiple woodblocks to layer different tones of color. This example, considered a masterpiece of Renaissance printmaking, uses four shades of green to render tonal values; the paper provides the lightest color in the composition.
  • ?-1923
    (Goodspeed's Bookshop, Boston, MA)
    November 16, 1923
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Gods and Heroes: Ancient Legends in Renaissance Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-December 31, 2017).
    Against the Grain: Woodcuts from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 17-November 9, 2003).
    Mannerism: Italian, French, and Netherlandish Prints, 1520-1620. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 3-October 26, 1997).
    Printing in Color. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10-November 17, 1985).
    Connoisseurship in Italian Figural Compositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 1980-February 15, 1981).
    Old Master Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 29, 1966-February 28, 1967).
  • {{cite web|title=Diogenes|url=false|author=Ugo da Carpi, Parmigianino|year=c. 1524–27|access-date=26 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1923.1052