Hercules chasing Avarice from the Temple of the Muses

Hercules chasing Avarice from the Temple of the Muses

Ugo da Carpi

Details

Dimensions
11 15/16 × 9 1/4 in. (30.3 × 23.5 cm)
Department
Drawings and Prints
Holding institution
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
License
CC0-1.0
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1920

Art Genome Taxonomy

12 tags

Subject Matter

  • Classical Mythology Both · 99%

    The title identifies Hercules and Avarice in a mythological episode, while the image presents a heroic figure pursuing another figure within a classically styled setting.

  • Human Figure Both · 99%

    Numerous male and female figures occupy the composition, including a dominant standing male figure at center-right.

  • Nude Both · 98%

    Several female figures are visibly nude or partially draped, consistent with the catalog subject Female Nudes.

  • Implied Narrative Both · 97%

    The title names a pursuit, and the raised club, grasping gesture, and bent figure at right visually establish an active chase.

  • Movement Visual · 95%

    The raised club, striding and twisting bodies, diagonal limbs, and flying drapery create pronounced visual action.

Visual Qualities

  • Dense Composition Visual · 98%

    Overlapping figures, architectural elements, trees, clouds, and patterned ground fill nearly the entire image field.

  • Linear Forms Visual · 98%

    Closely spaced contour lines, parallel hatching, and crosshatching articulate bodies, drapery, architecture, foliage, and terrain.

  • Highly Detailed Visual · 95%

    The print has a highly articulated surface, with extensive fine linework describing both figures and setting.

Medium and Techniques

  • Woodcut and Linocut Metadata · 99%

    The museum identifies the medium as a chiaroscuro woodcut from two blocks in green.

  • Chiaroscuro Metadata · 99%

    The work is explicitly cataloged as a chiaroscuro woodcut.

Time Periods

  • 16th Century Art Metadata · 99%

    The museum dates the work to approximately 1520–27, placing it in the sixteenth century.

Geographic Regions

  • Italian Art Metadata · 98%

    The artist is identified as Italian, from Carpi.

Source & rights

Ugo da Carpi. Hercules chasing Avarice from the Temple of the Muses. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.