Allegory of Avarice
Jacopo Ligozzi
Date unknown · Oil on canvas · European Paintings
In 1590 Ligozzi created a series of elaborate, allegorical drawings of the Seven Deadly Sins (six still exist). This painting, which is a fragment, depicts the central figures of the allegory of Avarice, the drawing for which is in the National Gallery, Washington. As described in emblem books, Avarice is shown as a pale woman holding a bag of money. The threatening skeleton suggests that the artist was inspired as well by other representations of the vice in either literature (perhaps Dante) or the visual arts.
- Artist
- Jacopo Ligozzi
- Date
- Date unknown
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Department
- European Paintings
- Credit line
- Gift of Eric Seiler and Darcy Bradbury, and Edward A. and Karen S. W. Friedman, 1991
