20. Allaert Claesz (1508-1555)
after Marcantonio Raimondi
Allegory with a Woman in Roman Dress on a Triumphal Chariot

(click on image to print)
Claesz: Allegory with a Woman

Allegory with a Woman in Roman Dress on a Triumphal Chariot

Engraving, 97 x 79 mm., Bartsch 33, Hollstein 144. A fine impression, clear and precise, on laid paper, trimmed on the borderline, which is visible along three sides but not at the bottom; the image, though, is complete. There is a tiny restoration in the background shading at the far left center. The print is copied in reverse from the upper right corner of Marcantonio's “Quos-Ego” with considerable elaboration. What was once a simple Roman triumph has now had added to it a Christian Trinity in the clouds, angels with trumpets, and an aureole and crown on the head of the principal female figure. The Claesz print is exceedingly rare, Hollstein citing only the Lanna impression. The precise nature of the original allegory has not been determined but has here been so elaborated as to be a totally different thing.