Marcus Curtius Leaping into the Chasm
1734–1802
Medium
Black chalk
Dimensions
10 7/16 x 8in. (26.5 x 20.3cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1880
Accession Number
80.3.503
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the dynamic drawing *Marcus Curtius Leaping the Chasm*, Gaetano Gandolfi captures a pivotal moment from ancient Roman. Created during the artist's lifetime (1734–2), this black chalk work depicts the heroic Marcus Curtius, a soldier who, according to legend, rode his horse into a mysterious chasm in the Forum in 362 BCE. Prophesied to close only when Rome's treasure was sacrificed, Curtius embodied valor itself, plunging in to save his city—a tale of self-sacrifice celebrated in classical lore. Gandolfi, a Bolognese artist known for his fluid, expressive figures influenced by the Carracci ...
About the Artist
Gaetano Gandolfi · 1734–1802
Gaetano Gandolfi (1734–1802) was an Italian painter and draughtsman who, together with his older brother Ubaldo Gandolfi, represented the finest flowering of the Bolognese school during the eighteenth century. Born in San Matteo della Decima, he trained in Bologna under Felice Torelli and Ercole Lelli before entering the Accademia Clementina, the leading artistic institution in the city, where he ...