Minerva depicted at top with a shield and arrow vanquishing the Giants below, from Barberinae aulae fornix

Minerva depicted at top with a shield and arrow vanquishing the Giants below, from Barberinae aulae fornix

Anonymous, Italian, 17th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This print is from a series of plates loosely stitched together representing Pietro da Cortona's ceiling frescoes 'Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power' for the salone of Palazzo Barberini, Rome painted 1630-33. The prints are dedicated to Gaspar de Guzman, Count of Olivares and Duke of Sanlucar (1587-1645). The frontispiece bares the name of Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi who published the series.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Minerva depicted at top with a shield and arrow vanquishing the Giants below, from Barberinae aulae fornixMinerva depicted at top with a shield and arrow vanquishing the Giants below, from Barberinae aulae fornixMinerva depicted at top with a shield and arrow vanquishing the Giants below, from Barberinae aulae fornixMinerva depicted at top with a shield and arrow vanquishing the Giants below, from Barberinae aulae fornixMinerva depicted at top with a shield and arrow vanquishing the Giants below, from Barberinae aulae fornix

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.