Two Terms, Two Cornices and a Pillar

Two Terms, Two Cornices and a Pillar

Hugues Sambin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Print with five designs, characterized by two large designs for terms placed side by side. The term on the left shows the nude upper body of an old woman supporting the capital or cornice, and five children or putti covering the base. The term on the right is made up out of two embracing women who are partly covered by a piece of drapery. On the outside the terms are flanked by two variations on the composition of a cornice. Between the two terms a half-lenght design for a pillar is placed, covered by a piece of drapery held in place by a belt.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Two Terms, Two Cornices and a PillarTwo Terms, Two Cornices and a PillarTwo Terms, Two Cornices and a PillarTwo Terms, Two Cornices and a PillarTwo Terms, Two Cornices and a Pillar

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.