The "Calumny" of Apelles, after Luca Penni

Apelles was the most famous painter in ancient Greece. Maligned by an envious colleague, he devised an allegory of Calumny. In an essay on the theme, the Roman satirist Lucian gave the only description of the painting to survive. Its re-creation became a favorite challenge for Renaissance artists. Giorgio Ghisi’s engraving is one of the best-known versions. Reproducing Luca Penni’s design, it closely follows Lucian’s description: Calumny, accompanied by Deceit and Envy, drags Innocence before a donkey-eared man, flanked by Ignorance and Suspicion. Penni’s embellishments include the background motif of Time rescuing Truth. Formed in Giulio Romano’s orbit in Mantua and active in Rome at an early stage of his career, Ghisi mastered the conventional system of reproductive engraving. In Antwerp and then Paris for much of the 1550s and 1560s, he incorporated the material values and the high craft of the northern traditions. The combination of ideal design, rich stuffs, and extraordinary modulation of tone in this print makes it a capital example of his mature style. Such works anticipated the virtuosity and the pictorial qualities that would characterize late-century engraving and bring it into close relation with painting. The collection includes eighteen engravings by Ghisi, a recently identified preparatory study for one, and another twenty-six engravings of the Mantuan school