The Altar of Love

Prints and Drawings

1510/36

Agostino dei Musi (Italian, c. 1490-after 1536)
printed by Antonio Salamanca (Italian, 1478-1562)

In this engraving, Cupid adorns the altar of love. Because war is the opponent of love, he is shown dominating a battle relief. The artist skillfully evoked a sense of color in the architecture by varying his engraved line. The swirls in the floor tiles represent the design of colored marble, whereas the columns are left white. The classicizing elements of architecture and mythological subjects attest to the revival of antiquity in the Renaissance.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Agostino dei Musi
Title: The Altar of Love
Origin: Italy
Date: 1510–1536
Medium: Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions: 293 × 221 mm (image); 297 × 221 (plate/sheet)
Credit Line: The Wallace L. DeWolf and Joseph Brooks Fair Collections
Reference Number: 1920.2362
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/80163/manifest.json

Bartsch XIV.384.536

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