Design for the Decoration of the Semi-Dome of a Church Apse

Design for the Decoration of the Semi-Dome of a Church Apse

Battista Franco

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This drawing is thought to have been intended for the decoration of the apse of the Cathedral of Urbino (destroyed in the 1789 earthquake), a project that was either lost with the collapse of the building or not executed. Probably born in Venice, Battista Franco was commissioned to paint the Assumption of the Virgin on the dome of the Cathedral in 1545-46, and it is also known that in 1551 he was working in the Chapel of the Sacraments, but documents suggest the artist and the duke of Urbino disagreed on the projects. The design was to be executed in fresco and stucco. Depicted here are the vault, with narrative compositions on the life of Christ within each caisson, and a frieze with garlands and putti, framed by relief decoration in the Antique style; on the walls of the drum two large scenes of miracles are each flanked by paired columns. Hovering angels are seen at the very top of the apse, and a pointing Archangel Gabriel of the Annunciation floats at upper left; he is drawn with greatly deliberated modeling and outlines.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Design for the Decoration of the Semi-Dome of a Church ApseDesign for the Decoration of the Semi-Dome of a Church ApseDesign for the Decoration of the Semi-Dome of a Church ApseDesign for the Decoration of the Semi-Dome of a Church ApseDesign for the Decoration of the Semi-Dome of a Church Apse

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.