Design for a Frontispiece: Mercury and Fame

Francisco Rizi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This drawing was for the engraved title page to Noticia del recibimiento i entrada de la reyna nuestra señora doña María-Ana de Austria . . . , a book commemorating the entry of Maríana of Austria into Madrid on November 15, 1649, for her marriage to Philip IV. Above, Fame sounds her trumpet. Below her is a motto from the Aeneid (IV, 175): "Fame acquires strength as she goes along." At right is Hymen, the goddess of marriage, who joins hands with Mercury, the messenger of the gods and patron of travelers. As a guide, Mercury escorted Psyche to heaven for her marriage with Cupid. In the context of this drawing, the association of Mercury with Hymen portends a fruitful and expedient union between Philip and Maríana.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art