The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 17, 2026

A vertically oriented pen and brown ink drawing on beige paper features a winged child emerging from scrolls. At the top, the nude figure turns left with its right arm raised and left arm extended. Below, intricate, swirling acanthus-like leaves with serrated edges and berry clusters fill the page. A faint grid of red chalk lines marks the background behind the child. The entire composition is rendered with warm brown ink.

Design for a Frieze with a Putto and Acanthus Leaves

c. 1520

Giulio Romano

(Italian, 1492/99–1546)
Italy, 16th century
Pen and brown ink, red and black chalk
Sheet: 32.6 x 16.2 cm (12 13/16 x 6 3/8 in.)
Anne Elizabeth Wilson Memorial Fund 2020.70
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The squares drawn on top of the design of this drawing indicate that it was transferred and resized to another medium such as fresco.

Description

After working to fresco the papal apartments in Rome under Raphael in the 1510s, Giulio Romano became the court artist to Federico II Gonzaga, 1st Duke of Mantua (r. 1530–40), where his universal talents as an architect, designer, and painter transformed the duke’s unadorned Palazzo del Te into an elaborate setting for leisure and courtly activity. It was through drawings that Giulio planned everything from the most important narrative sequences of the palace, to the most seemingly insignificant ornamental details. This drawing—perhaps a design for a rinceaux, a frescoed decoration to the side or above a doorway—depicts Giulio’s typically inventive approach to classical ornament, with acanthus leaves that twirl together in a complex figure-eight pattern and a putto emerging from the floral center.
  • (Galerie de Bayser, Paris, France)
    January 28, 2020
    (Christie's, New York, NY)
    March 2, 2020
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Strasser, Nathalie. Dessins italiens de la Renaissance au siècle des lumières: collection Jean Bonna. 2010. no. 32, p. 82-3
    S. L’Occaso. Giulio Romano ‘Universale’. Soluzioni decorative, fortuna delle invenzioni. Mantua, 2019 p. 85-7
    null www.christies.com
  • {{cite web|title=Design for a Frieze with a Putto and Acanthus Leaves|url=false|author=Giulio Romano|year=c. 1520|access-date=17 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2020.70