Allegory of Winter
Pietro Testa Italian
Publisher Giovanni Giacomo De Rossi Italian
Not on view
Testa's most concentrated and ambitious etchings are his four allegories of the seasons. Like all his prints, these manifest Testa's intellectual approach to his art, in which he embodied a complex personal philosophy. According to Testa, the human soul is governed by time and change and is imprisoned by the senses and passions. Winter is the last print of the cycle; here, the moon is ascendant at the left, and the mature, virtuous artist—winged, bearded man at the right—is now able to struggle upward, escaping from the figure of Envy below. He is supported by Virtue, who holds a laurel wreath before him.
