Design after a Fountain in the Villa Aldobrandini at Frascati.
1590–1600
Medium
Pen and brown ink, brush with brown wash and pale blue-gray watercolor accents (on the depictions of water), over leadpoint or black chalk, with ruling and compass construction
Dimensions
sheet: 13 5/8 x 26 3/4 in. (34.6 x 68 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1977
Accession Number
1977.619
Tags
Art Historical Context
Giovanni Guerra's *Design after a Fountain in Villa Aldobrandini Frascati* (c. 1590–1600) the grandeur of one of Renaissance Italy's most celebrated garden spectacles. The Villa Aldobrandini, perched in the hills near Rome, was a pinnacle of Mannerist landscaping, where engineering marvels like hydraulic fountains blended architecture, sculpture, and illusionistic water features. Guerra, a Bolognese artist active in Rome, meticulously rendered this design, likely as a study or record, highlighting the villa's innovative fountains adorned with architectural elements and nautical motifs like shi...