Melchizadek offering bread and wine to Abraham
Battista Franco
ca. 1545–61
Medium
Etching and engraving; third state
Dimensions
sheet: 10 3/4 x 16 9/16 in. (27.3 x 42 cm) trimmed to platemark
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Miss Helen J. Baker, 1937
Accession Number
37.68.19
Tags
BreadWineElephantsAbrahamLionsDogs
About the Artist
Battista Franco · 1510–1561
Battista Franco, known as il Semolei, was born in Venice around 1510, though his career unfolded largely in Rome and at the courts of central and northern Italy. He came to Rome in his twenties and immediately fell under two powerful spells: the inexhaustible riches of classical antiquity and the overwhelming presence of Michelangelo. Franco spent years making drawings after ancient sculptures and...