Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609-1664) - Melancholia - originale

Beautiful and rare original engraving depicting Melancolia as a woman sitting on the ground with a skull on her lap, a celestial globe behind her, a cat, a dog, a tomb and a painter's palette.
Copy on heavy laid paper, trimmed to the frame on three sides, within the frame with a loss of a few mm along the lower side, where "With permission of the superiors" was found in the right corner; in good condition, with collection monogram "EMI" in red at the bottom center (see photos) .
Motto engraved along the top "Ubi inletabilitas ibi Virtus", signed on the plate on the book at the bottom right "Bened. to/Cas. /in. "
Bartsch, XXI. 24. 26; Bellini, 15. IV.