Sketch of Balcony and Pier (?) With Standing Female and a Reclining Satyr
Medium
Pen and brown ink over graphite or lead on cream paper
Dimensions
8-9/16 x 5-1/2 in. (21.7 x 13.9 cm)
Classification
Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1952
Accession Number
52.570.121
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate 18th-century sketch Giovanni Larciani, as the "Master of Kress Landscapes," captures whimsical architectural fantasy: a balcony and pier () adorned with a standing female figure and a recl satyr. Executed in pen and brown ink over graphite lead-point on cream paper (8-9/16 x 5-1/2 in.), it exemplifies the fluid, preparatory techniques of draftsmanship, where initial underdrawing in graphite allows for precise ink hatching and contouring to evoke depth and texture. Classified under Drawings, Ornament & Architecture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the work blends classical myth...
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...