Wall fountain

Simone Mosca

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Born in the stone-working town Settignano and trained by the great architect Antonio da Sangallo (the younger), Simone Mosca worked with leading artists as a sculptor of architectural ornament. This fountain was carved along with a chimneypiece for the Palazzo Fossombroni in Arezzo, of a favored local stone, pietra serena. It vacillates delightfully between architecture and sculpture, striking a balance among the bases, columns, and entablature, on one hand, and the masks, scallops, and vegetal motifs on the other. In these same years, Mosca executed decoration for Michelangelo in the Medici Chapel; the subtle push and pull of surfaces across the fountain show Mosca's grasp of Michelangelo's intentions.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art