Design for a Frame Decorated with a Shell Motif
1652–1725
Medium
Pen and brown ink, over traces of black chalk
Dimensions
sheet: 4 x 2 11/16 in. (10.2 x 6.8 cm)
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1952
Accession Number
52.570.275
Tags
Art Historical Context
Giovanni Battista Foggini (1652–1725), a leading Florentine sculptor and designer of the late Baroque period, created this delicate study as a preparatory drawing for an ornate frame. Working primarily for the Medici court, Foggini excelled at blending sculpture, architecture, and decorative arts, often infusing his designs with dynamic movement and natural motifs. The shell motif here reflects the Baroque fascination with organic forms drawn from nature, evoking both maritime themes and the era’s love of elaborate, sculptural embellishment. Executed in pen and brown ink over faint black chal...
About the Artist
Giovanni Battista Foggini · 1652–1725
**Giovanni Battista Foggini** (1652–1725) was a leading Italian sculptor and architect of the late Baroque period, born in Florence within the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. He began his career under the patronage of the Medici family, who sponsored his artistic training. In 1673, at the age of 21, Cosimo III de' Medici sent the young Foggini to Rome to join the newly founded Accademia Fiorentina, where ...