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Falsehood Is the Cause of All Evil (recto); An Allegory of Truth and Falsehood (verso)

Fortunato Duranti

1840

ink

paper

From the collection of National Gallery of Art

Romanticism Early 19th Century Allegory

Dominant colour

Falsehood Is the Cause of All Evil (recto); An Allegory of Truth and Falsehood (verso) is a 1840 ink by Fortunato Duranti, a Romanticism work, held at National Gallery of Art.

Who painted this?: Fortunato Duranti
When & what style?: 1840 · Romanticism
Where can I see it?: National Gallery of Art

About this work

This sketch is all tangled lines and dark shapes. A crowd of people swarms around a central figure who seems to be speaking or pointing. The background is packed with buildings and tiny figures, all drawn in quick, messy strokes. Some areas are almost black, while others fade into light washes. The artist used lots of overlapping lines to build up shadows and texture. It looks like they layered ink to make some spots look three-dimensional. Try looking up cross-hatching to see how this technique works.