Frieze fragment
ca. 1520–35
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Overall: 38 3/16 × 56 5/16 in. (97 × 143 cm)
Classification
Paintings-Decorative
Culture
Italian, Rome
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Gioia and Marcello Aldega, 1998
Accession Number
1998.238
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold this captivating *Frieze fragment* by Polidoro da Caravaggio, a masterful Italian artist active in Rome around 1520–35. Painted in oil on canvas—a medium that allowed for rich color and portability in the Renaissance—this expansive piece (nearly 5 by 4.5 feet) evokes the grandeur of ancient Roman decorative arts. As a fragment of a larger frieze, likely adorned a facade or interior wall, blending High Renaissance elegance with emerging Mannerist flair. Polidoro, a contemporary of Raphael, specialized in illusionistic scenes mimicking classical reliefs, populating them with lively figur...
About the Artist
Polidoro da Caravaggio · 1492–present
Polidoro Caldara, known as Polidoro da Caravaggio, was born around 1499 in Caravaggio, Lombardy, and emerged as one of the most innovative painters of the early Mannerist period. Arriving in Rome circa 1515 as an untrained laborer hauling plaster for the Vatican Logge decorations, he quickly caught the eye of Raphael's key assistant, Maturino da Firenze. By 1517, Polidoro had joined Raphael's work...