Study of a Putto Seated on a Corbel in a Shell Niche
Carlo Maratti
ca. 1674–76 · Red chalk · Drawings and Prints
The Great Hall of the Palazzo Altieri in Rome, where Maratti worked from 1674 to 1677, is punctuated by four windows along one of the upper walls. Three of the spandrels (a triangular-shaped field) above those windows have frescoes of a putto seated on a feigned corbel in a shell niche very similar to the design of the present sheet, which is a recently identified study for that part of the decoration. Several drawings for unexecuted parts of this elaborate decorative scheme are also in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For other preparatory studies by Carlo Maratti for the decoration of Palazzo Altieri in the Metropolitan Museum of Art see inv. nos. 64.295.1 and 61.169 (Virtue crowned by Honor), 66.53.3 (Allegory of Peace), 66.137 (Allegory of Divine Wisdom), and 65.206 (Plan for a Ceiling and Nude Figures).
- Artist
- Carlo Maratti
- Date
- ca. 1674–76
- Medium
- Red chalk
- Department
- Drawings and Prints
- Credit line
- Gift of Philippe and Edith de Montebello, 2008
