Allegory of Art

Peter Schmidt von Lichtenberg German

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 690

Curving strokes of the pen and touches of opaque white lend the two women in this drawing a palpable corporeal presence—less so the statuette that one of them holds. Could this be a clever articulation of the paragone, or rivalry, between painting and sculpture? Such a theme might have amused the drawing’s dedicatee, whom the artist references with the word "MUSICA," an acrostic of the Latin phrase meo unico sincero intimo carissimo amico (to my sincerest and closest dear friend).

Allegory of Art, Peter Schmidt von Lichtenberg (German, Lichtenberg 1585–1620 Breslau), Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash, heightened with white on yellow prepared paper

This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Open Access

As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.

API

Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.

Allegory of Art, Peter Schmidt von Lichtenberg (German, Lichtenberg 1585–1620 Breslau), Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash, heightened with white on yellow prepared paper
Allegory of Art, Peter Schmidt von Lichtenberg (German, Lichtenberg 1585–1620 Breslau), Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash, heightened with white on yellow prepared paper

This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.