The Poet Virgil Suspended in a Basket (1525): Art, History and Details

The Poet Virgil Suspended in a Basket (1525) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Lucas van Leyden (Netherlandish, 1494–about 1533).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The medieval legend of Virgil, the esteemed poet who was left hanging in a basket by a Roman emperor’s daughter, belongs to the era’s popular “power of women” theme, which depicted women’s ability to fool even the wisest men. Here, Lucas van Leyden achieved the illusion of depth by engraving lines more deeply in the foreground than in the background to imitate how atmosphere affects human vision. His transitions between shaded and highlighted areas are less abrupt than Albrecht Dürer’s. This results in subtle effects on light surfaces and an overall softness, contrasting with Dürer’s bolder, more graphic style.

Object facts

• Title: The Poet Virgil Suspended in a Basket
• Date: 1525
• Creator attribution: Lucas van Leyden (Netherlandish, 1494–about 1533)
• Culture: Netherlands, 16th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1928.769

Collection credit

Gift of Leonard C. Hanna Jr.

Further reading listed by the museum

• Francis, Henry. "Recent Print Accessions by Lucas Van Leyden." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 22, no. 9 (November 1935): 142-145

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.