Frieze of Five Putti
1515–27
Medium
Red chalk on parchment
Dimensions
5 3/8 x 6 5/16in. (13.7 x 16cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Brandt, 1959
Accession Number
59.79.4
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the bustling workshops of early 16th-century Rome, Marco Dente (c. 1485–1527), a engraver and pupil ofantonio Raimondi, this enchanting *Frieze of Five Put* between 1515 and1527. Rendered in vibrant red chalk on parchment—a durable, creamy favored for detailed studies—this compact drawing (5 3/8 x 6 5/16 in.) captures a playful procession of five winged cherubs, or *putti*, tumbling and gesturing in rhythmic harmony. These chubby, joyful boys were Renaissance staples, symbolizing love, innocence, and divine playfulness, often adorning friezes in grand palaces and religious art inspired by c...
About the Artist
Marco Dente · 1515–1527
Marco Dente (died 1527), also known as Marco da Ravenna, was among the most accomplished printmakers working in Rome during the High Renaissance, a period that witnessed an extraordinary flowering of engraving as both a reproductive and an independent artistic medium. Little is known of his early training, but by the second decade of the sixteenth century he had established himself in the orbit of...