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Lot Essay
After the engraving by van Leyden of 1525, of which there are examples in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Hermitage, St. Petersburg.
Van Leyden produced two series of woodcuts and several engravings on this theme, in which Virgil was left by the Roman Emperor's daughter to dangle in a basket and be mocked by passers-by, rather than carried to her room for a tryst, as he had expected. In this depiction of a woman's ability to make a fool of even the wisest of men, the artist places the suspended poet in the background, inviting the viewer to join the characters in the foreground as they discuss the event.
Van Leyden produced two series of woodcuts and several engravings on this theme, in which Virgil was left by the Roman Emperor's daughter to dangle in a basket and be mocked by passers-by, rather than carried to her room for a tryst, as he had expected. In this depiction of a woman's ability to make a fool of even the wisest of men, the artist places the suspended poet in the background, inviting the viewer to join the characters in the foreground as they discuss the event.