Vase with Two Winged Figures Draping a Term
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 10 9/16 x 7 5/16 in. (26.9 x 18.5 cm) Plate: 7 1/2 x 4 3/8 in. (19 x 11.1 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2011
Accession Number
2012.136.33
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite 17th-century engraving *Vase with Two Wing Figures Draping a*, exemplifies the ornate decorative arts of the Baroque era. Likely a collaborative effort involving Dutch publishers Claes Jansz. Visscher and Frederick de Wit, along reproductions after designs by Mannerist masters like Polidoro da Carav and Rosso Fiorentino ( engraver René Boyvin), draws from Renaissance grotesque motifs. These fantastical elements—winged male nudes gracefully draping a classical term (a pillar topped with a bust)—evoke ancient Roman frescoes rediscovered during the Renaissance, blending mythology w...
About the Artist
Claes Jansz. Visscher|René Boyvin|Polidoro da Caravaggio|Rosso Fiorentino|Frederick de Wit · 1586–1652
Claes Jansz. Visscher, also known as Nicolas Joannis Visscher II or Joannis Piscator, was a prominent Dutch Golden Age draughtsman, engraver, mapmaker, and publisher born in Amsterdam in 1587 and died there on June 19, 1652. The son of the printmaker and publisher Jan Claesz. Visscher (c. 1550–1612), he learned the art of etching and printing from his father, helping to expand the family trade int...