Diogenes

This remarkable woodcut by Ugo da Carpi presents the fourth-century BCE philosopher Diogenes in a spiraling, muscular pose. Having relinquished all earthly goods, Diogenes is seated naked and immersed in thought with his few possessions: three books, a wooden tub, and a cloak. The plucked chicken at right also appears as an attribute, since Diogenes had mocked Plato's definition of man as a featherless biped. Ugo da Carpi introduced to Italy the chiaroscuro woodcut, which was developed to suggest the effect of a tonal drawing. He produced this print from four interdependent woodblocks that form a composition when printed together.