Design for a Wall Decoration with Apollo and the Muses, a Figure of Astronomy, and the Coat-of-Arms of a Grand Duke of Tuscany as Grand Master of the Order of Santo Stefano

Design for a Wall Decoration with Apollo and the Muses, a Figure of Astronomy, and the Coat-of-Arms of a Grand Duke of Tuscany as Grand Master of the Order of Santo Stefano

Marco Marchetti (Marco da Faenza)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Design for a wall elevation with a fireplace and door opening. Over the fireplace is a panel with Apollo and the Muses and over the door frame a sculpted coat-of-arms of the Grand Duke of Tuscany as Grand Master of the Order of Santo Stefano. In between, the personification of Astronomy is depicted in a niche, a decoration that was most likely meant to be executed in fresco.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Design for a Wall Decoration with Apollo and the Muses, a Figure of Astronomy, and the Coat-of-Arms of a Grand Duke of Tuscany as Grand Master of the Order of Santo StefanoDesign for a Wall Decoration with Apollo and the Muses, a Figure of Astronomy, and the Coat-of-Arms of a Grand Duke of Tuscany as Grand Master of the Order of Santo StefanoDesign for a Wall Decoration with Apollo and the Muses, a Figure of Astronomy, and the Coat-of-Arms of a Grand Duke of Tuscany as Grand Master of the Order of Santo StefanoDesign for a Wall Decoration with Apollo and the Muses, a Figure of Astronomy, and the Coat-of-Arms of a Grand Duke of Tuscany as Grand Master of the Order of Santo StefanoDesign for a Wall Decoration with Apollo and the Muses, a Figure of Astronomy, and the Coat-of-Arms of a Grand Duke of Tuscany as Grand Master of the Order of Santo Stefano

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.