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Estimate: $ 5,000 - $ 8,000
GIORGIO GHISI Allegory of Life (The Dream of Raphael).
Engraving, 1561. 368x540 mm; 14 1/2x21 1/4 inches. Third or fourth state (of 6). Trimmed on or just inside the plate mark. A very good impression of this scarce engraving, with strong contrasts and all the details distinct.
Allegory of Life (The Dream of Raphael) is among Ghisi's (1520-1582) largest and most enigmatic images. The inscriptions on the two tablets at the feet of each of the figures are taken from Book VI of Virgil's Aeneid, the Descent into Hell. While scholars still remain divided on the meaning of this subject, it is generally thought that the woman at the right represents Reason, possibly in the role of rescuing the man at the left who has badly guided the boat of his own existence, passengerless and stuck in the churning waters before him. Bartsch 67; Lewis 28.
