Jupiter Hurling a Thunderbolt

Jupiter Hurling a Thunderbolt

Giulio Romano

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dazzling for its energy and economy of means, this quickly drawn pen study was preparatory for a figure in one of the great milestones of Mannerism in Italy, the monumental illusionistic frescoes in the "Sala dei Giganti" (Room of the Giants), from 1531–34, at the Palazzo Te in Mantua. The precocious Giulio trained in Raphael's workshop and soon became a significant collaborator with the master, achieving international stature in his own right after 1520. He built and decorated the Palazzo Te for Federico II Gonzaga (1500–1540), the fifth marchese and first duke of Mantua, where Giulio settled as court artist from 1524 until his death.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jupiter Hurling a ThunderboltJupiter Hurling a ThunderboltJupiter Hurling a ThunderboltJupiter Hurling a ThunderboltJupiter Hurling a Thunderbolt

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.