Studies for the Nave and Narthex of San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome (recto and verso)

Studies for the Nave and Narthex of San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome (recto and verso)

Francesco Borromini

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Studies for the West nave and narthex of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome, spread across both sides of the sheet. The designs consist of floor plans executed in black chalk and pen and brown ink. Borromini's work on the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano counts among the most important commissions of his career as an artist and architect.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Studies for the Nave and Narthex of San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome (recto and verso)Studies for the Nave and Narthex of San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome (recto and verso)Studies for the Nave and Narthex of San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome (recto and verso)Studies for the Nave and Narthex of San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome (recto and verso)Studies for the Nave and Narthex of San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome (recto and verso)

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.