Allegorische cyclus met betrekking tot het menselijk leven c. 1566 - 1570

Mario Cartaro created this allegorical engraving, "Allegorical Cycle Relating to Human Life," in Italy, likely around the turn of the 17th century. Here, we see a sequence of images depicting the stages of human life. The print offers us a moralizing narrative, reflecting the dominant concerns of its time. The visual codes are clearly rooted in both classical and Christian traditions. Each scene is numbered and captioned in Italian, providing further clues to its intended meaning. Prints like this one served a vital function in disseminating ideas and shaping public opinion during the early modern period. To understand Cartaro's work more fully, we might look at emblem books, popular at the time, which paired images with moralizing texts. Understanding the social function of such imagery allows us to see how art engages with cultural values.