Cupid riding a goat accompanied by two satyrs, landscape in the background

Giovanni Pietro da Birago

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The print is northern Italian and was likely made at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Elements of the design correspond to prints by Giovanni Pietro da Birago (formerly known as the Master of the Sforza Hours), but the execution is closer to certain works of his colleague and collaborator Giovanni Antonio da Brescia (previously also referred to as Zoan Andrea). The composition reverses another contemporary engraving with only minor changes (Hind 19). We cannot be certain which version came first. The subject possibly represents an allegory of lust, but like so many early Italian prints, the subject is never entirely transparent. The central group of the cupid on a goat was likely derived from an artwork dating back to Antiquity. It is quoted, with variations, in other sixteenth century prints and drawings. Prints of this kind were made for an erudite audience who would have appreciated witty and engaging subjects. The engraving is known in only one other impression in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art