Design for the Decoration of a Wall with Grotteschi in the Antique-Style

Design for the Decoration of a Wall with Grotteschi in the Antique-Style

Luzio Luzzi (also known as Luzio Romano, Luzio da Todi)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This drawing was recognized as a typical work of Luzio Luzzi by Eraldo Gaudioso in 1976 (see Bibliography: Gaudioso 1976 and 1981), who also identified the design as preparatory for the room in the Castel Sant'Angelo, nicknamed "Cagliostra." This is a large hall close to the loggia of Pope Paul III Farnese (1534-1549). The room was entirely decorated in fresco by Luzio Luzzi, a collaborator and associate of Perino del Vaga, as documented by payments to the artist of May and December 1545.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Design for the Decoration of a Wall with Grotteschi in the Antique-StyleDesign for the Decoration of a Wall with Grotteschi in the Antique-StyleDesign for the Decoration of a Wall with Grotteschi in the Antique-StyleDesign for the Decoration of a Wall with Grotteschi in the Antique-StyleDesign for the Decoration of a Wall with Grotteschi in the Antique-Style

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.