Grotesque with a Female Figure (Minerva?) in a Temple-like Structure with a Cupola

Grotesque with a Female Figure (Minerva?) in a Temple-like Structure with a Cupola

Anonymous, Italian, 16th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Grotesque after a print by Agostino Veneziano thought to have been published arund 1530. The design is characterized by a an architectural structure with a cupola in the middle. The structure is open on all sides but the back, and in it a female figure with a helmet, possibly Minerva, is visible. The building is supported by a foot which is flanked on both sides by cupids. They hold onto meandering acanthus scrolls which form the basis for a decorative structure made up out of vases and garlands.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Grotesque with a Female Figure (Minerva?) in a Temple-like Structure with a CupolaGrotesque with a Female Figure (Minerva?) in a Temple-like Structure with a CupolaGrotesque with a Female Figure (Minerva?) in a Temple-like Structure with a CupolaGrotesque with a Female Figure (Minerva?) in a Temple-like Structure with a CupolaGrotesque with a Female Figure (Minerva?) in a Temple-like Structure with a Cupola

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.