Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist in front of a townscape

Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist in front of a townscape

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The group echoes the new harmonies that Raphael and his school brought to painting. Suggestive comparisons exist in Raphael-esque Madonnas engraved by Giulio Bonasone and Gian Giacomo Caraglio (who doubled as an engraver of hardstones), but the graceful composition is apparently unique to this piece. The cityscape in the background is executed in intaglio. The irregular chestnut-hued translucent band around the edge of the stone is void, probably because it was meant to be embedded in a gold setting.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist in front of a townscapeVirgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist in front of a townscapeVirgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist in front of a townscapeVirgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist in front of a townscapeVirgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist in front of a townscape

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.