Candelabra grotesque with four children playing, from a series of twelve candelabra grotesques

Candelabra grotesque with four children playing, from a series of twelve candelabra grotesques

Giovanni Antonio da Brescia

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Composed of playful putti, reptilian handles, cuirasses (breastplate armor), and foliage, this ornamental panel belongs to a series of twelve designed and engraved by Birago in collaboration with Brescia. While certainly fantastical, candelabra designs were inspired by real objects: the ancient Roman candelabrum. More directly, Birago’s candelabra were informed by fifteenth-century northern Italian architectural ornament and the manuscript illuminations he made in the service of the Sforza court in Milan. The large scale and sculptural quality of these prints after Birago’s designs convey a sense of monumentality and led to their popularity as models for sculpted reliefs across Europe.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Candelabra grotesque with four children playing, from a series of twelve candelabra grotesquesCandelabra grotesque with four children playing, from a series of twelve candelabra grotesquesCandelabra grotesque with four children playing, from a series of twelve candelabra grotesquesCandelabra grotesque with four children playing, from a series of twelve candelabra grotesquesCandelabra grotesque with four children playing, from a series of twelve candelabra grotesques

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.