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Saturn: An allegory of Time

Saturn: An allegory of Time
 (1535-1539); published 1604

Medium
chiaroscuro woodcut
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1970
Gallery location
Not on display
 

About this work

Niccolò Vicentino headed the most prolific chiaroscuro workshop in sixteenth-century Italy, producing many woodcuts after drawings by Parmigianino, Raphael and other artists. This woodcut closely follows a drawing by Giovanni Antonio Pordenone of Saturn, a figure from his celebrated fresco on the facade of Palazzo Martino d’Anna in Venice. Pordenone depicted Saturn, the god of time, as a winged figure with a snake biting its tail (symbolising eternity) encircling his ankles. The inclusion of the small boy (identified as Cupid) jointly holding the scales has also been interpreted as an illustration of the proverb Amor vincit tempus (Love conquers time).

Artwork Details

Medium
chiaroscuro woodcut
Measurements
32.5 × 43.1 cm (block and sheet)
Catalogue/s Raisonné
Bartsch 48, p. 201, 27
Printing/Publishing
published by Andrea Andreani 1604
Inscription
printed in ink (in image) l.r.: AA (monogram) in mantoua 1604
Accession Number
P68-1970
Departments
International Prints / International Prints and Drawings
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1970
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of the Joe White Bequest
Gallery location
Not on display
Subjects (general)
Allegory and Symbols Another Work Religion and Mythology
Subjects (specific)
balances (scales) chiaroscuro woodcuts children (people by age group) gods (deities) nudes (representations) Saturn (Roman deity) Time (allegorical character) wings (animal components)
Movements
Renaissance

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