Allegory of Avarice

Not on view

In 1590 Ligozzi created a series of elaborate, allegorical drawings of the Seven Deadly Sins (six still exist). This painting, which is a fragment, depicts the central figures of the allegory of Avarice, the drawing for which is in the National Gallery, Washington. As described in emblem books, Avarice is shown as a pale woman holding a bag of money. The threatening skeleton suggests that the artist was inspired as well by other representations of the vice in either literature (perhaps Dante) or the visual arts.

Artwork Details

Title: Allegory of Avarice
Artist: Jacopo Ligozzi (Italian, Verona 1547–1627 Florence)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 54 7/8 x 33 1/4 in. (139.4 x 84.5 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Gift of Eric Seiler and Darcy Bradbury, and Edward A. and Karen S. W. Friedman, 1991
Object Number: 1991.443
Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

By Jacopo Ligozzi

In the same medium

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A Janissary "of War" with a Lion, Jacopo Ligozzi Italian, Watercolor, gouache, gold paint, gum arabic, and burnishing — A Janissary "of War" with a Lion
Jacopo Ligozzi
ca. 1577–80

The Descent from the Cross with Saint Francis and Another Friar, Jacopo Ligozzi Italian, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown and gray wash, heightened with gold; framing lines in pen and brown ink and gold — The Descent from the Cross with Saint Francis and Another Friar
Jacopo Ligozzi
1619

Botanical Specimen (Motherwort or "Leonurus cardiaca"), Jacopo Ligozzi Italian, Brush with watercolor and gouache on vellum — Botanical Specimen (Motherwort or "Leonurus cardiaca")
Jacopo Ligozzi
1577–91

The Beech Tree of the Madonna at La Verna, Jacopo Ligozzi Italian, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash and with traces of gray wash, over black chalk — The Beech Tree of the Madonna at La Verna
Jacopo Ligozzi
1605–7

Saint Francis, Federico Barocci Italian, Oil on canvas — Saint Francis
Federico Barocci
ca. 1600–1604

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