Silhouetted Study of Pan in a Niche
Medium
Pen and gray ink, brush with gray and pale brown wash, highlighted with white gouache, over black chalk, on cream paper. Figure cut out along contours and pasted onto a drawn niche with an arched top (in brush and gray wash, over graphite or lead) on beige paper
Dimensions
10-3/16 x 5-7/8 in. (25.9 x 15 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1961
Accession Number
61.130.16
Tags
Art Historical Context
Nestled in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints collection, *Silhouetted Study of in a Niche* by Giovanni Larciani—known as the "Master the Kress Landscapes"—ures the playful spirit of the Greek god Pan in an 18th-century tour de force of draftsmanship. Acquired through the Rogers Fund in 1, this intimate sheet (10-3/16 x 5-7/8 in.) depicts Pan, the horned shepherd deity famed for his panpipes, poised within a classical arched niche, evoking the rustic myths of ancient Greece that captivated Renaissance and Baroque artists. What makes this drawing truly enchanting is its innov...
About the Artist
Giovanni Larciani ("Master of the Kress Landscapes") · 1700–1800
Giovanni di Lorenzo Larciani (1484–1527), a Florentine painter known initially as the "Master of the Kress Landscapes," emerged from obscurity in the mid-1990s through the scholarship of Louis Waldman, who linked him to documents including a 1521 contract for an altarpiece. Born and active in Florence until his death, Larciani specialized in religious scenes enriched by vivid, atmospheric landscap...