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The Triumph of Painting on Parnassus

Pietro Testa Italian
Publisher Giovanni Giacomo De Rossi Italian
ca. 1642
Not on view
Painting, riding in a chariot, is crowned by the Three Graces, her triumph achieved through the union of the two pillars of her art: color (colore), represented by Cupid blending pigments; and light and shadow (chiaroscuro), signified by the horses. She ascends Parnasus, the mount sacred to Apollo and the Muses, progenitors of Art. Envy, the wretched snake-haired figure gnawing on the wheel of the chariot, tries with no effect to impede Painting's apotheosis. This composition takes as its theme the labors and rewards of the virtuous artist.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Triumph of Painting on Parnassus
  • Artist: Pietro Testa (Italian, Lucca 1612–1650 Rome)
  • Publisher: Giovanni Giacomo De Rossi (Italian, Rome 1627–1691 Rome)
  • Date: ca. 1642
  • Medium: Etching
  • Dimensions: 18 9/16 x 28 1/4 in. (47.2 x 71.8 cm) trimmed to platemark
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949
  • Object Number: 49.95.2324
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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Plato's symposium: Socrates and his companions seated around a table discussing ideal love interruputed by Acibiades at left, Pietro Testa Italian, Etching
Plato's symposium: Socrates and his companions seated around a table discussing ideal love interruputed by Acibiades at left
Pietro Testa
Vicenzo Billi
1648
Achilles dragging the body of Hector around the walls of Troy
Pietro Testa
ca. 1648–50
The Adoration of the Magi, set before and architectural colonnade
Pietro Testa
ca 1650–60
Self portait as an artist, holding a drawing board and implement, Pietro Testa Italian, Etching
Self portait as an artist, holding a drawing board and implement
Pietro Testa
Arnold van Westerhout
ca. 1645
The deluge, figures being pulled from the water, Pietro Testa Italian, Etching
The deluge, figures being pulled from the water
Pietro Testa
ca. 1640–42

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