Study for a Fresco: Allegory in Honor of Ranuccio Farnese
before 1553
Medium
figures
Classification
figures
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Museum purchase through gift of various donors
Accession Number
1901-39-1365
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
**Study for a Fresco:ory in Honor of Ran Farnese** by Francesco Salviati (, 1510–1563) offers a glimpse into the preparatory world of Renaissance fresco design. Created before 1553, this work is a figure study intended for a larger wall painting, capturing the elegant, elongated forms typical of Mannerism—a stylistic shift from the balanced harmony of High Renaissance art toward more dynamic, graceful compositions. Salviati a prominent Florentine painter who worked in Rome and Bologna, was renowned for his intricate fresco cycles in palaces and churches, often commissioned by powerful patrons....