Design for the Base of a Vessel with Two Satyrs.
1652–1725
Medium
Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over traces of black chalk
Dimensions
sheet: 3 7/8 x 3 3/4 in. (9.9 x 9.6 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
52.570.280
Tags
Art Historical Context
Giovanni Battista Foggini's *Design for the Base of Vessel with Two Satyrs (1652–1725) is a charming preparatory drawing from the Baroque era, showcasing the artist's skill in ornamental design. This intimate sheet, measuring just 3 7/8 x 3 3/4 inches, depicts two lively satyrs—mythological creatures symbolizing revelry and nature—supporting the base of a vessel, likely for luxurious metalwork like silver or goldsmithing. Foggini, a Florentine sculptor and draftsman, excelled in such decorative motifs, blending classical mythology with the exuberant energy of 17th-century art. Rendered in pen...
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 ...