Design for a Wall Elevation with Grotesques

Anonymous, Italian, second half of the 16th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Painted wall and ceiling decorations were an important part of the Italian 16th century interior. With their vibrant colors, they often had a determining influence on the atmosphere of a room. This design shows a decoration for a niche between two pillars which is filled by a so-called candelabra grotesque with male and female satyrs on its offshoots. Grotesques became a popular motif for wall decorations during the last quarter of the 15th century. They were based on the murals found in the partly excavated Domus Aurea: Emperor Nero’s Golden House (ca. 64 AD). The underground chambers were soon visited by artists and described as ‘grotte’ (grottoes) which inspired the name ‘grottesche’. A characteristic quality of grotesques is a high level of license and fantasy, both in terms of their composition and in their subject matter. The theme of this wall decoration is particularly licentious and was most likely designed for the private quarters of a city palace.

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