Design for a Frescoed Altarpiece of The Resurrection
ca. 1560–71
Medium
Pen and dark brown ink, brush and gray- brown wash, highlighted with white gouache, over black chalk, and compass-constructed architecture, on blue paper
Dimensions
Overall: 11 1/16 x 13 13/16 in. (28.1 x 35.1 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Guy Wildenstein Gift, 2000
Accession Number
2000.239
Tags
Art Historical Context
This intricate drawing by Maso da San Fri (Tommaso Manzu), a prominent Florentine Mannerist artist active in the mid-16th century, as a preparatory design for a grand frescoed altarpiece *The Resurrection*. Created around 1560–71, it the dramatic moment of Christ's triumph over death, surrounded by soaring angels, adoring women—likely the Marys—and architectural elements evoking a sacred altar space. Maso, a pupil of Giorgio Vasari, exemplifies Mannerism's elegant elongation of figures and dynamic compositions, blending spiritual fervor with refined humanism during the Catholic Counter-Reforma...