Column of Dilius and Obelisque Fountain
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
sheet: 18 3/16 x 12 3/16 in. (46.2 x 31 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1961
Accession Number
61.514.22
Tags
Art Historical Context
This enchanting 1574 engraving, *Column of Dilius and Obelisque Fountain*, captures the of ancient Roman architecture through the skilled hand of publisher Antonio Lafreri ( an anonymous artist in his circle). Measuring 18 3/16 x 12 3/16 inches, it hails from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Elisha Whittelsey Collection. Lafreri, a prominent 16th-century Roman printmaker, was renowned for his *Speculum Romanae Magniae*, a celebrated series documenting the Eternal City's monuments, fueling the Renaissance revival of classical antiquity. The print vividly depicts a towering column—possibly the ...
About the Artist
Anonymous|Antonio Lafreri
In the vast tapestry of art history, "Anonymous" stands not as a singular individual but as a collective designation for countless unidentified creators whose works have endured across millennia. These artists, spanning prehistoric cave painters to medieval illuminators and folk craftsmen, produced the foundational layers of human visual culture. Prior to the Renaissance, when individual fame emer...