Catafalque for Marchese Bartolomeo Ruspoli, S. Maria in Vallicella, Rome, September 21, 1681
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet (Trimmed): 16 3/4 × 12 13/16 in. (42.5 × 32.6 cm)
Classification
Prints|Prints-Fete|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1965
Accession Number
65.546.8
Tags
Art Historical Context
This intricate etching captures the grandeur of a Baroque catafalque—a temporary funerary monument—erected for Marchese Bartolomeopoli at S. Maria in Vallicella (Chiesa Nuova) in Rome September 21, 1. Created by the skilled Roman printmaker and publisher Giovanni Giacomo Rossi, in collaboration with architect Giovanni Battista Contini and possibly Johannes Collin, it documents a lavish ceremonial structure honoring a prominent nobleman from the influential Ruspoli family. design features symbolic motifs like skulls (evoking memento mori ornate leaves, and the family coat of arms, blending hera...