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An Allegory of Statuary or Lament of Sculpture

A work made of etching in black on ivory laid paper.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of etching in black on ivory laid paper.

Date:

1629

Artist:

Pierre Biard, II
French, 1592-1661

About this artwork

Pierre Biard the Younger, who had became enamored with Italian art after a visit to Rome, was appointed the court sculptor of Henri IV in 1609. This idiosyncratic etching includes text in both French and Italian, as well as a double self-portrait of the artist (as the two male figures on the right). The allegorical figure of Calumny reappears from the ancient lost painting of the Calumny of Apelles. By explicitly referencing a painting in a print about sculpture, Biard may be staging his own paragone, a debate tradition dating from antiquity in which one art form was compared with another.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Pierre Biard, II

Title

An Allegory of Statuary or Lament of Sculpture

Place

France (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1629

Medium

Etching in black on ivory laid paper

Dimensions

Image: 32.5 × 53 cm (12 13/16 × 20 7/8 in.); Sheet: 35.3 × 53.2 cm (13 15/16 × 21 in.)

Credit Line

Everett D. Graff Fund and Henry M. Huxley Fund

Reference Number

1983.280

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/100263/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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