Religion Kneeling before a Monstrance, Attended by Putti

Cigoli (Ludovico Cardi)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

With remarkable quickness and concision, Cigoli drew the allegorical figure of Religion kneeling before a monstrance (a sacred vessel). The curved border at left indicates that the study was perhaps preparatory for a specific architectural space. Attendant putti hold epigrams signifying Christ (INRI and IHS). The sheet once belonged to Sigismondo Coccapani, a close follower of Cigoli’s.

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