A Man Shooting a Crossbow 1579

Cherubino Alberti made this print of "A Man Shooting a Crossbow" with engraving in Italy. The crossbow itself was, of course, a military weapon and hunting tool, but here it’s presented in an allegory for the virtue of Prudence. The man is standing on broken architectural elements which suggests that prudence is built on ruins. This resonates with the concept of Renaissance humanism. The visual codes of the image create meaning through the ways in which the figure is presented as a kind of active, virtuous citizen. Looking at emblem books and other printed materials of the time, we can see how images took on particular political valences. The image may be self-consciously conservative. To understand the full cultural context, resources such as historical archives, printed books, and even museum collections can help to illuminate the social and institutional meanings embedded within the artwork.