Design for a Ceiling with Decoration Related to Virgil's Sixth Canto

A symmetrical design for a ceiling in pen and brown ink with pale yellow, pink, blue and green wash over leadpoint. Dense scrollwork, grotesque ornament and medallions frame a central rectangular scene of two figures beside a pink curtain, with smaller roundels at the top, sides and bottom.

Look closer: A handwritten inscription in pen runs along the bottom edge of the sheet.

Artist

Felice Giani

Date

1778–1823

Medium

Pen and brown ink, brush and yellow, pink, blue and green wash over leadpoint; vertical line in leadpoint through the center to create the s

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

3466 × 2674 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1952