Neptune pursuing Coronis; Minerva interposes herself and turns Coronis into a crow

Neptune pursuing Coronis; Minerva interposes herself and turns Coronis into a crow

Francisco Vieira de Mattos (Il Lusitano)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The subject is drawn from Book II of Ovid’s epic poem, the Metamorphoses. The print is after a now-lost painting executed by Vieira in 1724 while in exile in Rome for his patron and friend, the Portuguese special envoy to the Vatican, Alejandro de Gusmäo. The print is dedicated to Gusmäo, whose name is inscribed on the plaque lower left. Preparatory drawings for the painting survive (British Museum, the Museu de Arte Antiga, Lisbon, the Academia de Ciências in Lisbon). The also provided the basis for the print.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Neptune pursuing Coronis; Minerva interposes herself and turns Coronis into a crowNeptune pursuing Coronis; Minerva interposes herself and turns Coronis into a crowNeptune pursuing Coronis; Minerva interposes herself and turns Coronis into a crowNeptune pursuing Coronis; Minerva interposes herself and turns Coronis into a crowNeptune pursuing Coronis; Minerva interposes herself and turns Coronis into a crow

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.