Muses at the Foot of Mount Parnassus

Muses at the Foot of Mount Parnassus

Antonio Fantuzzi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In its rough execution, claustrophobic composition, and stylized, attenuated figures, this print is characteristic of the school of printmaking that arose at Fontainebleau, the palace of Francis I (r. 1515–47) outside Paris. Fantuzzi was apparently called to Fontainebleau to assist his fellow Bolognese Francesco Primaticcio, who was frescoing the walls of the palace with tales of the ancient gods and heroes. There, Fantuzzi took up etching, producing more than one hundred prints after drawings by Primaticcio, Rosso Fiorentino, and others. There is no known model for this etching, however, which could be the etcher's own design.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Muses at the Foot of Mount ParnassusMuses at the Foot of Mount ParnassusMuses at the Foot of Mount ParnassusMuses at the Foot of Mount ParnassusMuses at the Foot of Mount Parnassus

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.