The Marriage of the Virgin (Lunette)

Giorgio Picchi, the Younger

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Rhoda Eitel-Porter was the first to propose the attribution of this drawing to Giorgio Picchi, one of the followers of Barocci, along with Antonio Viviviani, and Antonio Cimatori (note on the mount). The attribution of the Marriage of the Virgin has been confirmed with conviction by Denis Morganti (written communication, July 24, 2014), who is working on an article on Picchi's drawings. The MMA sheet is a finished modello for a Marriage of the Virgin: a further preliminary study for the same composition is in the Albertina, Vienna (inv. 610, Birke and Kertesz 1992, vol. 1, p/ 332 as "Schule von Siena"). The Albertina drawing, of a smaller scale (16 x 27.7 cm), has been squared and transferred onto the larger MMA sheet. A further drawing that was a preliminary sketch for this composition is in a private collection (written communication by Denis Morganti, July 24, 2014) (Furio Rinaldi)

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