Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV at Canossa

Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV at Canossa

Ubaldo Gandolfi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Emperor Henry IV was excommunicated by Pope Gregory VII for his part in the Investiture Controversy that arose from imperial interference in the appointment of clergy. In the winter of 1088, a repentant Henry followed the pope to his temporary residence at Canossa and waited barefoot in the snow outside the castle for three days before being pardoned. The scene, rarely shown in the eighteenth century, perhaps found special resonance in nearby Bologna, the leading city of the Papal States. Ubaldo Gandolfi, an accomplished and expressive painter who also occasionally sculpted, conceived an original and picturesque compositional solution, sheltering Henry in a blasted tree trunk, his crown at his feet.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.