The Last Supper

Livio Agresti da Forlì

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The little-studied class of objects to which this repoussé relief belongs may have been developed as an aftereffect of copperplate engraving. The image's source is a Mannerist fresco by Livio Agresti in the Oratorio di Santa Lucia del Gonfalone, Rome, that was disseminated in an engraving of 1578 by Cornelis Cort. Glimpsed through the twisted columns is a vignette of Christ washing Saint Peter's feet. Our artisan further activated the composition with torch-bearing angels at the top and with the florid patterning of the figures' draperies.

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