Fantastical Masked Masculine Heads
Medium
Engraving; second state of two
Dimensions
sheet: 6 3/16 x 11 1/8 in. (15.7 x 28.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1955
Accession Number
55.594.6
Art Historical Context
This intriguing engraving, *Fantastical Masked Masculine Heads*, captures the inventive spirit of Mannerist design through its grotesque, intertwined male visages adorned with elaborate helmets, foliage, and mythical motifs. Created by French engraver René Boyvin after drawings by the Italian artist Rosso Fiorentino, the work reflects the fusion of Italian and French artistic traditions during the mid-16th century. Rosso, a leading figure of the First School of Fontainebleau, brought his distinctive elongated forms and imaginative ornament to the French court of Francis I, where such designs o...
About the Artist
René Boyvin|Rosso Fiorentino · 1525–1580
French, Angers ca. 1525–1598 or 1625/6 Angers