Orpheus and Eurydice

This engraving comes from a series of prints known as Lascivie. All fifteen plates from this collection, whose themes derive from ancient mythology and the Old Testament, were related through their distinctive erotic charge. According to period records, the print series aggravated Pope Clement VIII, who reproached Agostino for a lack of decency. Similar collections with erotic subject matter were by no means rare in their day. Among the most famous such works were prints by Marcantonio Raimondi, Hans Sebald Beham and Hendrik Aldegrever.