The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 22, 2024

Cephalus and Procris in two Niches

Cephalus and Procris in two Niches

1538–1540
(French, c. 1525–after 1580)
(Italian, 1494–1540)
Sheet: 20.7 x 26.6 cm (8 1/8 x 10 1/2 in.)
Catalogue raisonné: Robert-Dumesnil 69 (VIII.46)
Location: not on view

Description

The Italian Renaissance made an impact outside Italy in the second quarter of the 1500s, when the French king François I invited Italian artists to oversee the decorative program of his chateau at Fontainebleau. Arriving in 1530, Rosso Fiorentino had been deeply influenced by Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes, which he had seen while working in Rome between 1524 and 1527. Rosso’s designs for two figures in niches (which were engraved by René Boyvin) imitate the complexity and tension of Michelangelo’s nudes. In this story from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Cephalus has accidentally impaled his wife Procris, who had been spying on him from the bushes.
  • purchased from (Hill-Stone, Inc., NY)
  • Master/Apprentice: Imitation and Inspiration in the Renaissance. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 13, 2019-February 23, 2020).
    Mannerism: Italian, French, and Netherlandish Prints, 1520-1620. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 3-October 26, 1997).
    Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; 8/3/97 - 10/26/97. "Mannerism: Italian, French, and Netherlandish Prints, 1520-1620."
  • {{cite web|title=Cephalus and Procris in two Niches|url=false|author=René Boyvin, Rosso Fiorentino|year=1538–1540|access-date=22 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1991.96