Designs for Grotesque Motifs, ca. 1500–1550
MediumGouache, gold paint, five separate drawings on canvas (?)
Sheet dimensions38,5 × 8,1 cm
About the workHumans, animals and hybrid creatures populate these five surviving fragments of designs for wall decorations. Such motifs are called “grotesques”. This style of painting originated in antiquity and was rediscovered towards the end of the fifteenth century during excavations of Emperor Nero’s palace in Rome. Artists enthusiastically studied and imitated this decorative ornamentation. These drawings are probably copies of designs by Giovanni da Udine, a painter who specialised in grotesques and worked in the studio of the Renaissance artist Raphael.
AccessionCollection of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
Provenance[…]; seit 1932 Dauerleihgabe der Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
Inventory numberKA (FP) 176
