Head of Pope Urban VIII (Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini) (recto); An Outstretched Arm (verso)

Head of Pope Urban VIII (Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini) (recto); An Outstretched Arm (verso)

Pietro Locatelli

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Confidently executed with sweeping strokes of black chalk expressively built up around the outlines, this portrait drawing of Pope Urban VIII Barberini (reigned 1623-1644), which appears to be an animated likeness done from life of the great maecenas of Baroque Rome, has been convincingly identified as the work of Pietro da Cortona's gifted pupil, Pietro Locatelli, relating to his design in reverse for the main figure seen at center in the tapestry cartoon of 1669-70 that represents the Union of the Duchy of Urbino and the Papal States (now in the Palazzo Venezia, Rome). The scale of this unusally large portrait drawing is life-size, and probably closely corresponds to that of the final work. The verso of the sheet represents the truncated design of a woman's arm also related to Locatelli's tapestry cartoon.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Head of Pope Urban VIII (Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini) (recto); An Outstretched Arm (verso)Head of Pope Urban VIII (Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini) (recto); An Outstretched Arm (verso)Head of Pope Urban VIII (Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini) (recto); An Outstretched Arm (verso)Head of Pope Urban VIII (Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini) (recto); An Outstretched Arm (verso)Head of Pope Urban VIII (Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini) (recto); An Outstretched Arm (verso)

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.