Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae: Sacrifice to Hercules
16th century
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
sheet: 17 1/16 x 12 7/8 in. (43.4 x 32.7 cm) plate: 9 7/16 x 8 7/16 in. (24 x 21.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1941
Accession Number
41.72(2.124)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the Renaissance fascination with ancient Rome through *Speculum Romanae Magniae: Sacrifice to Hercules*, an anonymous 16th etching from the Metropolitan Museum Art's Drawings and Prints collection. This is part of the renowned *Speculum Romanaeificentiae* ("Mirror of Roman Magnificence"), a vast of over 1,000 etchings compiled in the mid-1500s by publishers like Antonio Lafreri. These affordable prints captured Rome's ancient ruins, sculptures, and, making classical splendor accessible to scholars, artists, and collectors across Europe during a time of fervent antiquarian revival. T...
About the Artist
Anonymous
In the vast tapestry of art history, "Anonymous" stands not as a singular individual but as a collective designation for countless unidentified creators whose works have endured across millennia. These artists, spanning prehistoric cave painters to medieval illuminators and folk craftsmen, produced the foundational layers of human visual culture. Prior to the Renaissance, when individual fame emer...