Nymph and Swan

Benedetto Pistrucci

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Even the most celebrated carvers did not scruple to borrow freely from authoritative sources. Nathaniel Marchant had already treated this composition in an intaglio carved for Lavinia, Countess Spencer (private collection, United Kingdom), but Pistrucci added an original flourish of drapery. One might understandably interpret the subject as Leda and the swan had not Marchant identified it as the nymph in Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso who accepts tablets bearing the names of deceased worthies from a fleet of swans (hence the disklike object proffered by the swan). Castellani’s delicate “archaeological-style” setting perfectly frames the curvilinear design.

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