Venus, recumbent on a shell, surrounded by sea gods
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet (Trimmed): 6 × 7 in. (15.2 × 17.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Harry G. Friedman, 1959
Accession Number
59.644.192
Art Historical Context
Behold *Venus, Recumbent on a Shell,rounded by Sea Gods*, a delicate etching from 1520–1600, attributed to either an anonymous artist or the renowned Italian painter Correggio (Antonio Allegri Correggio). This intimate print, measuring just 6 × 7 inches, captures the goddess of love reclining gracefully on her iconic shell, encircled by playful sea deities in a scene brimming with Renaissance sensuality and classical mythology. The composition evokes the timeless allure of Venus (Aphrodite), blending eroticism with divine beauty. Etching, a revolutionary printmaking technique emerging in the ...
About the Artist
Anonymous|Correggio (Antonio Allegri)
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...