The suicide of the philosopher Cato, who lies on his bed pulling out h

A nude man reclines on a draped bed while robed companions recoil and gather around him, one reaching toward his body. A bust sits in a niche at upper right, and a seated figure and a kneeling servant appear in the architectural background beside a tiled floor. Fine hatched lines model the drapery and musculature in this etching.

Look closer: A Latin inscription block of several lines sits in the lower right, with a signature and date below the scene.

Artist

Pietro Testa

Date

1648

Medium

Etching

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

3685 × 2539 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1951