The Rape of Ganymede

Giovanni Bernardi da Castel Bolognese

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This plaquette was cast from a rock crystal carved by Giovanni Bernardi da Castel Bolognese (1496–1553) for Cardinal Ippolito de'Medici between 1533 and 1535. The gem was an exact copy of a drawing that Michelangelo (1475–1564) had made for Tommaso Cavalieri.

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