Design for a Pendentive: Youthful Musicians with Stringed Instruments
1505–88
Medium
Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, highlighted with white, over red chalk, on blue paper
Dimensions
2-5/16 x 2-13/16 in. (5.8 x 7.1 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harry G. Sperling Fund, 1977
Accession Number
1977.249a
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate drawing by Pomponio Amalteo (1505–1588) is a preparatory design for a pendentive, the curved triangular section that supports a dome. It depicts youthful musicians gracefully playing stringed instruments, their forms arranged to fit the triangular shape. Such imagery often symbolized celestial harmony in Renaissance churches and palaces, where music represented divine order. Amalteo, a northern Italian artist influenced by the Venetian school, used pen and brown ink with wash and white highlights over red chalk on blue paper. This technique allowed him to model light and shadow ...