Executioner Holding Up a Severed Head
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta
1682–1754
Medium
Charcoal, highlighted with white chalk, on gray-blue paper
Dimensions
15-15/16 x 10-1/2 in. (40.5 x 26.7 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1961
Accession Number
61.204
Tags
SwordsHeadsMen
About the Artist
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta · 1682–1754
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta was born in Venice in 1682 and trained first under his father, the sculptor and woodcarver Giacomo Piazzetta, before turning decisively to painting. The crucial formative experience of his career came when he traveled to Bologna to study under Giuseppe Maria Crespi, whose dramatic use of chiaroscuro — strong contrasts of light and shadow rooted in the Caravaggesque trad...