Spring (Primavera) represented as a woman bearing a billowing drape and garlands, a spandrel-shaped composition from the series 'The Four Seasons'
ca. 1570–1615
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
sheet: 9 3/4 x 6 3/8 in. (24.8 x 16.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2011
Accession Number
2012.136.124.3
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the lively tradition of Renaissance allegory, *Spring (Primavera)* captures the season's renewal through a graceful female figure draped in billowing fabric and adorned with garlands of flowers. This spandrel-shaped engraving, to fit the curved spaces above arches in architecture, is part of the series *The Four Seasons* by Italian engraver Cherubino Alberti, designs by his contemporary Taddeo Zuccaro. around 1570–1615, it exemplifies Mannerist elegance with its dynamic pose and flowing lines, evoking the vitality of spring. Alberti's mastery of engraving—a precise intaglio technique using...
About the Artist
Cherubino Alberti (Zaccaria Mattia)|Taddeo Zuccaro · 1553–1615
Cherubino Alberti (1553–1615), also known by his birth name Zaccaria Mattia, was an Italian engraver and painter active in Rome during the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Born in Borgo San Sepolcro in Tuscany, he came from an artistically inclined family and received training that equipped him for work in both painting and the reproductive graphic arts. It was as a printmaker, however,...