Prophet Seated in Profile on a Cloudbank, Praying: decoration for a spandrel
Medium
Red chalk on cream paper
Dimensions
10-1/4 x 7-5/8 in. (26.0 x 19.35 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1880
Accession Number
80.3.502
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate red chalk drawing on cream paper depicts a prophet seated in profile atop a billowing cloudbank, hands clasped in prayer. Created around 1760–90 by an anonymous Italian artist of the 17th or 18th century—or possibly André Lebrun—it was designed as a decorative element for a spandrel, the curved triangular space above an arch in architecture. Such figures were common in Baroque and Rococo church interiors, evoking heavenly visions and spiritual devotion amid grand ecclesiastical spaces. The medium of red chalk, prized for its warm sanguine tones and subtle gradations, allowed the...