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Preview image of work. pen and brown ink and grey wash over red chalk on paper,  Sacred and Christian Rome 4190
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1956.24.230

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Sacred and Christian Rome

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Artist

Carlo Maratti (Camerano (Marches), Italy, 1625 - 1713, Rome, Italy)

Title

Sacred and Christian Rome

Creation Date

1674-1677

Century

17th century

Dimensions

18 11/16 in. x 14 13/16 in. x 5 11/16 in. (47.47 cm. x 37.62 cm. x 14.4 cm.)

Object Type

drawing

Creation Place

Europe, Italy

Medium and Support

pen and brown ink and grey wash over red chalk on paper

Credit Line

Gift of Miss Susan Dwight Bliss

Copyright

Public Domain

Accession Number

1956.24.230

A dynamic cluster of legendary characters--Rome, the River Tiber, the twins Romulus and Remus, and the she-wolf that nursed them--bursts through a narrow triangular frame. The drawing is a study for one of Carlo Maratti’s spandrel frescoes located between the windows of the large audience hall in the Palazzo Altieri in Rome. Never executed, these were intended to complement Maratti’s majestic central ceiling fresco, the “Allegory of Clemency” (1673--75), which proclaimed the virtues and accomplishments of the Altieri family’s most illustrious member--Pope Clement X. Maratti’s studies exhibit tremendous variety in media, technique, and level of finish. Modulated with deft touches of gray and brown wash, the layering achieved here creates a vibrant and luscious effect.

Additional Media

Additional Image verso
verso


Keywords: allegory   work on paper   master drawing   architecture   figures (representations)   nude(s)