Allegory of a thesis, two women hold inscribed tablets

Bartolomeo Coriolano|Guido Reni

1640 · Chiaroscuro woodcut from two blocks printed and green (only state) · Drawings and Prints

This graphically powerful woodcut is the product of Reni and Coriolano’s collaborative explorations of chiaroscuro printing in Bologna in the 1630s. The print’s largely indecipherable iconography illustrates how enigmatic thesis print images can be when separated from their original accompanying texts. Two women surrounded by books hold inscribed tablets that together make the phrase "All is the same that harms the innocent."

Artist

Bartolomeo Coriolano|Guido Reni

Date

1640

Medium

Chiaroscuro woodcut from two blocks printed and green (only state)

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917