Ornamental Panel Surmounted with a Head Flanked by Foliage
Medium
etching with engraving on laid paper
Dimensions
sheet: 45 × 23.2 cm (17 11/16 × 9 1/8 in.) plate: 24.5 × 11.2 cm (9 5/8 × 4 7/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Katharine Shepard Fund
Accession Number
2013.174.12
Art Historical Context
This exquisite ornamental panel, titled *Ornamental Panel Sur with a Head Flanked by Foliage*, is a 1647 etching with engraving by Michel Dorigny designs by the renowned French Baroque master Simon Vouet. Measuring just 24.5 × 11.2 cm on laid paper, it captures a whimsical composition: a central head crowned by lush foliage, evoking the playful grotesques of Renaissance decorative traditions reimagined in the opulent Baroque style. Vouet, Louis XIII's court painter, infused French art with dramatic Italian influences, and Dorigny—his talented son-in-law—expertly translated these motifs into pr...