Six subjects after antique cameos: female figures tending to a seated male figure; putti and dolphins; female figure holding the reins of a pair of rearing horses; intertwined naked figures flanked by music-playing satyrs; triton with shield-bearing female figure; naked male figure seated on goat-headed sea creature

About the Artist

Battista Franco · 1510–1561

Battista Franco, known as il Semolei, was born in Venice around 1510, though his career unfolded largely in Rome and at the courts of central and northern Italy. He came to Rome in his twenties and immediately fell under two powerful spells: the inexhaustible riches of classical antiquity and the overwhelming presence of Michelangelo. Franco spent years making drawings after ancient sculptures and...