Portrait of Michelangelo in profile facing right set within a recess
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 9 7/16 × 6 15/16 in. (24 × 17.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Mary Martin Fund, 1985
Accession Number
1985.1034
Tags
Art Historical Context
This striking engraving, titled *Portrait of Michelangelo in Profile Right Set Within a Rec*, captures the legendary Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarroti in a profile view, evoking the dignified medallion portraits of ancient Rome. Created in 1545 by engravers Enea Vico and Giulioasone—possibly after a design by Michelangelo himself—it measures 9 7/16 × 6 15/16 inches exemplifies the Renaissance fascination with antiquity and individualized likenesses. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, it was acquired through the Mary Martin Fund in 1985. Engravi...
About the Artist
Enea Vico|Giulio Bonasone|Michelangelo Buonarroti · 1523–1567
Enea Vico (1523–1567) was born in Parma and came of age during the final, energetic decades of Italian Renaissance printmaking. By 1541 he had made his way to Rome, where he entered the orbit of the engraver and publisher Tommaso Barlacchi and began his professional career. In Rome, Vico encountered the work of the most celebrated printmakers of the preceding generation—Marcantonio Raimondi, Agost...