A Winged Putto Riding a Sea Horse and a Lion; verso: The Three Graces

Denijs Calvaert

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

One of around twenty Italian drawings from the Massar collection, this double-sided sheet has recently been recognized as the work of Denijs Calvaert. Now almost illegible, the sheet is dated and signed at the bottom by the artist, “1574 / Dionisio Calvaert,” together with his place of birth, “DE ANVERSA” (Antwerp). Calvaert was in Rome between 1573 and 1576 where he made numerous studies after ancient sculpture and painting, but few have survived. This drawing is a copy after Raphael’s celebrated fresco at the Villa Chigi (commonly known as the Villa Farnesina), painted in 1517–18. Calvaert’s copies, such as this one, became highly sought after in Rome and were often mistaken as Raphael's own work. The bold and carefully finished manner we see in this sheet is typical of his drawing style.

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