Female Term, seated figure, and fantastical creature (recto); Satyr and study of a woman and child (verso)
? attributed to Andrés de Melgar Spanish
Not on view
The figure with outstretched arms in the upper left corner resembles an ancient Roman sculpture of Diana of Ephesus that was known through small-scale replicas. The goddess became a popular motif in Renaissance grotesque decorations, such as the frescoes in the Vatican Loggie and the decor of Prince Andrea Doria’s palace in Genoa. Like the leafy acanthus pictured in this drawing, she also appears in prints made by Agostino Veneziano (on view nearby). In the space of a single page, the author of this drawing quotes and elaborates on a range of printed sources, sketching his subjects in varying states of finish. At the center, he imagines a fantastical winged creature in profile, while a more schematic version composed of swift and abbreviated pen strokes looks on from below.
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