Sep 2, 2020
Sep 2, 2020

Design for a Frieze with a Putto and Acanthus Leaves

Design for a Frieze with a Putto and Acanthus Leaves

c. 1520

Giulio Romano

(Italian, 1492/99–1546)

Pen and brown ink, red and black chalk

Sheet: 32.6 x 16.2 cm (12 13/16 x 6 3/8 in.)

Anne Elizabeth Wilson Memorial Fund 2020.70

Location

Did you know?

The squares drawn on top of the design of this drawing indicate that it was transferred and resized to another medium such as fresco.

Description

After working to fresco the papal apartments in Rome under Raphael in the 1510s, Giulio Romano became the court artist to Federico II Gonzaga, 1st Duke of Mantua (r. 1530–40), where his universal talents as an architect, designer, and painter transformed the duke’s unadorned Palazzo del Te into an elaborate setting for leisure and courtly activity. It was through drawings that Giulio planned everything from the most important narrative sequences of the palace, to the most seemingly insignificant ornamental details. This drawing—perhaps a design for a rinceaux, a frescoed decoration to the side or above a doorway—depicts Giulio’s typically inventive approach to classical ornament, with acanthus leaves that twirl together in a complex figure-eight pattern and a putto emerging from the floral center.

See also
Collection: 
DR - Italian
Department: 
Drawings
Type of artwork: 
Drawing

Contact us

The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.

To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, a detail image, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.