Inlaid marble altar frontal
17th century
Medium
Pen and brown ink, brush and gray and red wash over traces of leadpoint
Dimensions
sheet: 10 5/16 x 16 9/16 in. (26.2 x 42.1 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, 1949
Accession Number
49.50.119
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite 17th-century drawing, titled *Inlaid Marble Altar Frontal*, captures the opulent design of a church altar decoration by an anonymous Italian artist. Created during the height of the Baroque era, when Italy's Catholic Church commissioned lavish artworks to inspire awe and devotion amid the Counter-Reformation, depicts a richly patterned frontal likely intended for inlaid marble execution—a technique blending colored stones for vivid, durable mosaics evoking semiprecious gems. Executed on a modest sheet (10 5/16 x 16 9/16 in.), the work showcases masterful preparatory techniques:...