{
"data": {
"id": 152554,
"accession_number": "1985.37",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Allegory of Life, 1561. Giorgio Ghisi (Italian, 1520\u20131582). Engraving; image: 38.1 x 54.4 cm (15 x 21 7/16 in.); secondary support: 43.1 x 59.4 cm (16 15/16 x 23 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 1985.37",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Allegory of Life",
"creation_date": "1561",
"creation_date_earliest": 1561,
"creation_date_latest": 1561,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"Italy"
],
"technique": "engraving",
"support_materials": [
{
"description": "cream(3) laid paper, mounted to laid paper, with an approximately 2.5 cm. wide strip of laid paper applied to each of the four edges (over edges of primary support)",
"watermarks": []
}
],
"department": "Prints",
"collection": "PR - Engraving",
"type": "Print",
"measurements": "Image: 38.1 x 54.4 cm (15 x 21 7/16 in.); Secondary Support: 43.1 x 59.4 cm (16 15/16 x 23 3/8 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"image": {
"height": 0.381,
"height_inch": 15,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.0,
"width": 0.544,
"width_inch": 21,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.4375
},
"secondary support": {
"height": 0.431,
"height_inch": 16,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.9375,
"width": 0.594,
"width_inch": 23,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.375
}
},
"state_of_the_work": "iia/vi",
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "center, in plate: SEDET \u00c6TERNVM / QVE SEDEBIT IFOELIX [line over the 'I' beginning IFOELIX] ; lower left, in plate: RAPHAELIS VRBINATIS INVENTVM. / PHILIPPVS DATVS ANIMI GRATIA / FIERI IVSSIT. ; lower center, on tablet in boat, in plate: GEORGIVS / GHISI MAT. / .F 1.5.6.1. [line over 'A'] ; lower right, in plate: TV NE CEDE MALIS : SED / COTRA AVDENTIOR ITO [line over 'O' in COTRA] ; VERSO, center, in pen and brown ink: [illegible word crossed out] ; lower right, in graphite: 7073",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 310042,
"title": "Images of the Mind",
"description": "Images of the Mind. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 7-August 30, 1987).",
"opening_date": "1987-07-07T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 189312,
"title": "Mannerism: Italian, French, and Netherlandish Prints, 1520-1620",
"description": "Mannerism: Italian, French, and Netherlandish Prints, 1520-1620. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 3-October 26, 1997).",
"opening_date": "1997-08-03T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 437915,
"title": "Love Gardens / Forbidden Fruit",
"description": "Love Gardens / Forbidden Fruit. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 2-October 29, 2023).",
"opening_date": "2023-07-02T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; 8/3/97 - 10/26/97. \"Mannerism: Italian, French, and Netherlandish Prints, 1520-1620.\"",
"opening_date": "1997-08-03T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Main Gallery Rotation (gallery 117): June 3, 2013 - October 7, 2013.",
"opening_date": "2013-06-03T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Earl Spencer [1708-1746], Althorp, stamp (Lugt Supp. 2341a), lower left, in blue",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "(Artemis Fine Arts, Ltd., London, England), sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "?\u20131985",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "March 25, 1985\u2013",
"sortorder": 3
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "Ghisi was trained in the creation of luxury metalwork, specifically armor, informing his highly skilled and complex engraving of the copperplate used to make this print.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "This engraving presents a complex allegory whose complete meaning remains unclear, although the plaques at the feet of the man and woman may provide one clue. The inscriptions come from the sixth book of Virgil\u2019s Aeneid: \"He who sits unfortunate will sit forever,\" and \"Do not yield to adversities, but go out to meet them bravely.\" The print\u2019s details do not correspond directly to any episode from Virgil, although book six, in which Aeneas descends into the underworld, is an allegory of human life. A similar theme could be suggested here, communicating an essentially hopeful message of overcoming tribulation.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79937474"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1985.37-allegory-of-life"
]
},
"citations": [],
"catalogue_raisonne": "Lewis&Boorsch 28 iia/vi",
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1985.37",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
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"width": "900",
"height": "647",
"filesize": "364571",
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},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1985.37/1985.37_print.jpg",
"width": "3400",
"height": "2445",
"filesize": "4772330",
"filename": "1985.37_print.jpg"
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"full": {
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"alternate_images": [
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"date_created": "2013-05-20T14:38:21",
"annotation": ""
}
],
"creditline": "Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 152554,
"creators": [
{
"id": 4603,
"description": "Giorgio Ghisi (Italian, 1520\u20131582)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1520",
"death_year": "1582",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1985-03-25T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1561,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1561",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [
"The Dream of Raphael"
],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-08-21 12:43:18.618000"
}
}