Eighteen Views of Rome: The Piazza Farnese (recto)

1664

Lievin Cruyl

(Flemish, c. 1640-c. 1720)

Culture

Medium

pen and brown ink and brush and gray and blue wash over graphite; squared in graphite (two figures in the foreground); framing lines in brown ink

Support

Cream(3) laid paper; paper strips mounted to the perimeter of the verso

Measurements

Sheet: 38.7 x 49 cm (15 1/4 x 19 5/16 in.)

Credit Line

Dudley P. Allen Fund 1943.257.a

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Location

Not on view

Description

Flemish artist Lieven Cruyl made a number of drawings of emblematic vistas of Rome for the Roman publisher Giovanni Battista de Rossi, of which ten were published as etchings in 1666. The Piazza Farnese features architecture designed by Michelangelo, who completed the Palazzo Farnese after the death of its original designer, Antonio da Sangallo, in 1546. His main contribution was the third story and the significantly protruding cornice at the top of the facade, which dramatically hangs over the front of the building, like sculpture.