Plate 113: The Greeks Battling the Trojans (Graecorum Troianorumque concursus), from Ovid's 'Metamorphoses'
1606
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 3 15/16 × 4 1/2 in. (10 × 11.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1951
Accession Number
51.501.3964
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold Plate 113 from Antonio Tempesta's masterful series of etchings illustrating Ovid's *Metamorph* (1606), titled *The Greeks Battling Trojans* (Graecorum Troianorum concursus). This dynamic 4-by-4-inch print captures the chaos of the Trojan War, pivotal clash from Greek mythology reimagined through the Roman poet Ovid's transformative lens. Tempesta, prolific Italian artist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque, excelled in etching—a technique that allowed for intricate lines and tonal depth using acid on copper plates—making classical tales accessible to a wide audience beyond elite p...
About the Artist
Antonio Tempesta · 1555–1630
Antonio Tempesta (1555–1630), known as 'Il Tempestino,' was a Florentine painter and printmaker whose extraordinary output of approximately 1,700 etchings made him one of the most influential printmakers of the early Baroque period. Born in Florence and trained under Santi di Tito and the Flemish master Joannes Stradanus, he enrolled in the Accademia del Disegno in 1576 before relocating to Rome i...