Prudence, plate 35 from Genii and Virtues (c. 1465): Artwork and History

Prudence, plate 35 from Genii and Virtues (c. 1465) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Master of the E-Series Tarocchi Italian, active c. 1465.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

This card, Prudence, depicts a woman draped in billowy fabric with a mirror in front of her. A cupid figure holds the mirror while standing on a pedestal. The arresting aspect of the image is the man’s face on the back of the woman’s head, which jarringly contrasts with her delicate beauty. In this case, the double face of the figure represents foresight and experience. There is also a stylized dragon at the woman’s feet, which is reminiscent of a lap dog rather than a monster, and she seems to be imprudently unconcerned with the creature.

Object facts

• Title: Prudence, plate 35 from Genii and Virtues
• Date: c. 1465
• Artist attribution: Master of the E-Series Tarocchi Italian, active c. 1465
• Place of origin: Italy
• Medium: Engraving on paper
• Dimensions: 18 × 10 cm (7 1/8 × 3 15/16 in.)
• Type: Print
• Department: Prints and Drawings
• Reference number: 1924.39.27

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Potter Palmer, Jr.

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.