Man with Torch at Temple Door, from "Ex Antiquis Cameorum et Gemmae Delineata/ Liber Secundus/et ab Enea Vico Parmen Incis"

Art Historical Context

This engraving, titled *Man with Torch at Temple Door*, comes from the second volume of *Ex Antiquis Cameorum et Gemmae Delineata*, a publication devoted to documenting ancient cameos and gems. Created in the third state and published between roughly 1599 and 1622, the small print measures just 3 7/16 by 4 7/8 inches and features a male nude figure holding a torch before a temple entrance. Multiple artists, including Enea Vico of Parma, contributed to the project, which blends the work of 16th-century Italian engravers with earlier designs. Such reproductive prints played a vital role in the Renaissance and early Baroque periods by circulating knowledge of classical antiquity. Collectors, artists, and scholars who could not travel to see original gems could study their compositions, iconography, and idealized human forms through these detailed engravings. The presence of male nudes underscores the period’s fascination with ancient ideals of the body and mythological subjects. Today housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Drawings and Prints as part of the Elisha Whittelsey Collection, the work exemplifies how printmaking preserved and popularized the visual language of the ancient world for generations of viewers.

About the Artist

Francesco Angeloni|Battista Franco|Philippe Thomassin|Enea Vico|Anonymous, Italian, 16th century (Italian|Italian|French|Italian|Italian) · 1559 |1510 |1562 |1523 |1500 –1652 |1561 |1622 |1567 |1600

Terni 1559 or 1587–1652 Rome|Italian, Venice ca. 1510–1561 Venice|French, Troyes 1562–1622 Rome|Italian, Parma 1523–1567 Ferrara|