Narcissus Allegory of Self-Love – Ripa Iconologia Engraving c.1760

Description

Narcissus Allegory of Self-Love – Ripa Iconologia Engraving c.1760

This Cesare Ripa self-love engraving depicts “Amor di se stesso,” or the Allegory of Self-Love, personified by Narcissus contemplating his own reflection.

The young man stands beside a pool in a rocky, tree-lined landscape. Partially wrapped in classical drapery, he places one hand upon his chest while looking down at the face reflected in the water. This carefully constructed gesture transforms the familiar myth of Narcissus into a moral allegory about self-admiration, vanity and excessive attachment to one’s own image.

The print bears its original bilingual captions:

“Amor di se stesso”
“Die Liebe sein selbst”

The subject derives from the influential Iconologia of Cesare Ripa, first published in Rome in 1593. Ripa’s work became one of the principal European sources for the visual representation of virtues, vices, emotions, intellectual concepts and human passions.

This copper engraving can most plausibly be associated with the celebrated German edition published by Johann Georg Hertel in Augsburg around 1758–1760. The Hertel edition contained 200 full-page engravings after designs by Gottfried Eichler, accompanied by Italian and German inscriptions. The individual engraver of this unsigned plate cannot be established with certainty.

The blank reverse, full-page composition and bilingual wording are consistent with plates from this mid-18th-century edition.

Details:

• Subject: Allegory of Self-Love
• Classical figure: Narcissus
• Original captions: “Amor di se stesso” and “Die Liebe sein selbst”
• Iconographic source: Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia
• Probable edition: Johann Georg Hertel, Augsburg
• Probable date: circa 1758–1760
• Technique: copper engraving
• Colour: black ink on antique paper
• Reverse: blank
• Sheet size: 17.5 × 12.5 cm
• Engraved area including captions: 16.7 × 12.1 cm
• Unframed