Neptune in a Decorative Frame with Grotesques, from the Judgment of Paris

Neptune in a Decorative Frame with Grotesques, from the Judgment of Paris

Adriaen Collaert

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Plate 2 from a series of six devoted to the figures in the mythological story of the Judgment of Paris. Vertical panel with an older male figure, commonly identified as Neptune, reclining in a landscape in a medallion at center. The seated figure leans on a vase, which lies on its side at right and is shown spilling its contents (water and fish) on the ground. Surrounding the medallion, a dark background with grotesque ornament, including a figure riding an eagle under a canopy at bottom center.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Neptune in a Decorative Frame with Grotesques, from the Judgment of ParisNeptune in a Decorative Frame with Grotesques, from the Judgment of ParisNeptune in a Decorative Frame with Grotesques, from the Judgment of ParisNeptune in a Decorative Frame with Grotesques, from the Judgment of ParisNeptune in a Decorative Frame with Grotesques, from the Judgment of Paris

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.