Group of Allegorical figures: Sketch for a Ceiling Decoration ?
1657–1747
Medium
Pen, brown ink, gray wash over black chalk
Dimensions
10 9/16 x 7 11/16in. (26.8 x 19.5cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Henry Walters, 1917
Accession Number
17.236.42
Tags
Art Historical Context
Francesco Solimena (1657–1747), a Neapolitan Baroque artist, masterfully captured dynamic energy in this preparatory sketch titled *Group of Allegorical Figures: Sketch for a Ceiling Decoration*. Likely designed for one of the grand frescoed vaults that adorned 18th-century Italian palaces and churches, it features intertwined male and female figures symbolizing virtues, triumphs, or divine themes—hallmarks of Baroque allegory. Solimena's theatrical compositions, influenced by the dramatic flair of predecessors like Luca Giordano, emphasized movement and illusion to draw viewers' eyes upward i...
About the Artist
Francesco Solimena · 1657–1747
Comment on works: History; Religious