Horizontal Panel Design with Three Young Male Figures Interspersed between Acanthus Rinceaux

Anonymous, Italian, Venetian, 17th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Design for a horizontal panel with a meandering rinceau. Between the rinceaux there are three hybrid young male figures whose lower bodies morph into the acanthus scrolls. One figure on the left wears a wreath on his head and carries part of the scroll over his shoulder. Right of the center, the two other figures seem to interact with each other. The one on the left has wings on his back. The one on the right supports part of the scroll with his shoulder.

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