A King of Judah and Israel
Martin Fréminet
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Fréminet, who had built a considerable reputation in Italy, was summoned back to France in 1602 by the French king, Henri IV who, two years later, put him in charge of decorating the vault of the chapel of the Trinity at the château of Fontainebleau. Fréminet’s concept was for a compartmentalized ceiling featuring scenes in oil on plaster within a complex scheme of painted and gilt stucco ornament. This study is preparatory for one of the eight standing figures of kings of Judah and Israel which punctuate the side walls. The figure’s strength and regal bearing are expressed in the lively ink line delineating the musculature and Roman military costume, while the anatomy is further accentuated with a smoky shading in black chalk and touches of white chalk. Drawn as if seen from below, the king stands in contrapposto, his right hand on his hip, recalling the muscular figure types of Michelangelo as well as the ancient statues of warriors and gods that Fréminet studied during his Roman sojourn. Overlaying these elements, is a lush and elegant sensibility derived from the richly textured milieu of the château of Fontainebleau where subjects of mythology, history, and religion were everywhere interwoven with a playful vocabulary of ornament and fantasy. Perrin Stein, May, 2014
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.