Disegni Varij di Polifilo Zancarli (Friezes)

Polifilo Giancarli

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Design for a frieze filled with a meandering acanthus scroll and various figures. On the right side, two hybrid creatures, one male and one female, are placed whose bodies consist of acanthus leaves. The male figure is depicted in front. He is holding up a snake with a fantastical head in one hand whilde holding onto a club with the other. Below the snake a dog had been placed who seems to barking at the strange creature. In the scroll two putti can also be noted: one with a dog on the far left; and one in the middle playing with a flower. Near him are a snake and a fantastical lionesque creature with a strange head.

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