Diogenes,

ca. 1524–27

Active in Venice, Rome, and Bologna, Ugo da Carpi was the first Italian artist to master the chiaroscuro woodcut, a color-printing technique invented in early-sixteenth-century Germany, whereby color was added through multiple blocks of successively darker tones. In contrast to the contained linear cross-hatching of the engraving technique, the chiaroscuro process articulated highlights and shadows through the application of broad strokes of color, creating a rich three-dimensional and tonal effect that imitated the vibrant brush and wash drawings produced by Raphael, Titian, and other contemporary Italian artists. Considered to be Ugo da Carpi’s masterpiece, this elegant and arresting composition is based on a lost drawing by the northern Italian painter Parmigianino. It shows the ancient Greek Cynic philosopher Diogenes, who relinquished all earthly goods in favor of a life of meditation. Seated before the wooden tub in which he lived, he clutches a billowing cloak to his chest while reading from one book and pointing with a stick to another, which is inscribed with the names of Parmigianino and Ugo da Carpi. The plucked chicken at right refers to Diogenes’ mockery of Plato’s definition of man as "a featherless biped."