St. Peter's, drum, interior, elevation (recto) St. Peter's, drum, pedestal, section (verso)
early to mid-16th century
Medium
Dark brown ink, black chalk, and incised lines
Dimensions
sheet: 22 5/8 x 17 3/16 in. (57.4 x 43.7 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Janos Scholz and Anne Bigelow Scholz, in memory of Flying Officer Walter Bigelow Rosen, RCAF, 1949
Accession Number
49.92.17
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
This architectural drawing by Étienne DuPérac captures the monumental drum of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the cylindrical structure that supports Michelangelo’s celebrated dome. Created in the early to mid-sixteenth century, the sheet presents an interior elevation on the recto and a sectional view of the pedestal on the verso. These precise studies reflect the intense planning and revision that characterized the basilica’s long construction, which spanned much of the Renaissance. DuPérac, a French draftsman and engraver active in Rome, employed dark brown ink, black chalk, and incised lines to convey both the grandeur of the architecture and the technical details of its masonry. Such drawings served as working documents for architects and patrons, translating complex three-dimensional forms onto paper with remarkable clarity. The large sheet size underscores its practical use in the studio or on site. Today housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this work offers visitors a rare glimpse into the collaborative process behind one of Western architecture’s most iconic monuments. It highlights how Renaissance draftsmen bridged artistic vision and engineering precision, preserving the evolving ideas that shaped St. Peter’s enduring silhouette.
About the Artist
Etienne DuPérac · 1535–1604
Comment on works: architect; painter