Apollo and Galatea in a Landscape with Neptune and Three Nymphs
1550–60
Medium
Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over black chalk, squared for transfer in black chalk (with some corrections to squaring grid); traces of framing outlines in pen and dark brown ink
Dimensions
7 1/16 × 8 1/16 in. (18 × 20.5 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1961
Accession Number
61.20.5
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate drawing by Orazio Samacchini captures a lively mythological gathering set in an idyllic landscape. Created between 1550 and 1560, the composition brings together Apollo, the god of music and poetry, alongside the sea nymph Galatea, Neptune, and three attendant nymphs. Samacchini, a Bolognese artist active during the late Renaissance, skillfully arranges these figures to suggest both movement and harmony, inviting viewers to imagine the larger narrative unfolding beyond the sheet. The work’s medium—pen and brown ink with brush washes over black chalk—reveals the artist’s working ...