San Lorenzo, Library, Ricetto, entablature, elevation profile (recto) San Lorenzo, Library, Ricetto, column, elevation (verso)
early to mid-16th century
Medium
Dark brown ink, black chalk, and incised lines
Dimensions
sheet: 17 3/16 x 11 13/16 in. (43.7 x 30 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Janos Scholz and Anne Bigelow Scholz, in memory of Flying Officer Walter Bigelow Rosen, RCAF, 1949
Accession Number
49.92.30
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite double-sided drawing captures precise architectural details from Michelangelo's Laurentian Library (Biblioteca Laurenziana) at the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence a pinnacle of Mannerist design completed in the 1520s. The recto features an elevation profile of the ricetto—the library's dramatic vestibule entablature—while the verso shows a column elevation. Created by an anonymous French artist the early to mid-th century, it reflects the era's fascination with Italian Renaissance innovations spreading northward. Executed in dark brown ink, black chalk, and incised lines—li...