Design for a Reredos or Frame and Setting for an Altar Painting
1552–1626
Medium
Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash
Dimensions
Sheet: 15 3/16 x 8 3/4 in. (38.5 x 22.2 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949
Accession Number
49.19.49
Tags
Art Historical Context
Cristoforo Roncalli, known as Pomarancio was a prominent Italian Mannerist artist active in late 16th- and early 17th-century Rome. This delicate drawing, titled *Design for a Rered or Frame and Setting for Altar Painting* (ca. 1552–1626), showcases his skill in architectural and figural design for sacred spaces. Created as a preparatory study, it likely served as a proposal for the ornate backdrop (reredos) behind an altar painting in a church, blending sculpted human figures with elaborate framing to enhance religious devotion during the Counter-Reformation era. Executed in pen and brown in...