Allegory of blind love 1500 - 1583

Pirro Ligorio made this drawing, Allegory of Blind Love, during the 16th century with pen and brown ink. Ligorio was an Italian architect, painter, antiquarian, and garden designer during the Renaissance, and his familiarity with classical antiquity is evident in this artwork. The image creates meaning through the use of classical iconography. Here we see Cupid, the god of love, blindfolded, and about to open a box from which light is escaping. A dog, a symbol of fidelity, accompanies him while other figures try to keep the box closed using a torch, which is also lit. Italy in the 1500s was a place deeply influenced by the classical tradition, but the image also comments on the social structures of its own time. The allegory may be about the dangers of love that is not based on reason. To understand it better, we can research the intellectual history of Renaissance Italy and the symbolic meanings associated with light and darkness. The meaning of art is always contingent on social and institutional context, so understanding these contexts is essential to the historian.