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Diogenes, seated before his barrel, reading from a book, a plucked hen standing behind him at right

Ugo da Carpi Italian
ca. 1527–30
Not on view
Ugo da Carpi was the first Italian artist to experiment with a multiblock woodcut technique known as chiaroscuro. The method requires a different block for each shade; the blocks are inked and printed one over the other to create the composition. In this remarkable example of the medium, the artist creates form through areas of tone. Ugo seems to have drawn inspiration from the wash drawings of Parmigianino, with whom he may have collaborated. The print shows the Greek philosopher Diogenes immersed in his studies. The chicken at right is a reference to his mocking response to Plato’s definition of man as a featherless biped: Diogenes is said to have presented a plucked chicken, saying, “Here is Plato’s man!”

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Diogenes, seated before his barrel, reading from a book, a plucked hen standing behind him at right
  • Artist: Ugo da Carpi (Italian, Carpi ca. 1480–1532 Bologna)
  • Artist: After Parmigianino (Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola) (Italian, Parma 1503–1540 Casalmaggiore)
  • Date: ca. 1527–30
  • Medium: Chiaroscuro woodcut printed from four blocks in gray-green ink
  • Dimensions: Image: 18 11/16 × 13 5/8 in. (47.5 × 34.6 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917
  • Object Number: 17.50.1
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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Hercules chasing Avarice from the Temple of the Muses, Ugo da Carpi Italian, Chiaroscuro woodcut from two blocks in green
Hercules chasing Avarice from the Temple of the Muses
Ugo da Carpi
After Baldassarre Tommaso Peruzzi
ca. 1520–27
Lobster-Tail Burgonet, Steel, leather, gold, North Italian
Lobster-Tail Burgonet
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St. Andrew, Facing Forward, Head Turned to Left, Anton Maria Zanetti the Elder Italian, Chiaroscuro woodcut from three blocks in black, green, ochre, with border in gold ink and watercolor frame
St. Andrew, Facing Forward, Head Turned to Left
Anton Maria Zanetti the Elder
After Parmigianino (Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola)
before 1749
Penelope and Odysseus, Ugo da Carpi Italian, Chiaroscuro woodcut printed from three blocks in blue and gray
Penelope and Odysseus
Ugo da Carpi
After Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio or Santi)
ca. 1520–27
Armor, Steel, copper alloy, textile, leather, Italian
Armor
Italian
ca. 1400–1450 and later

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