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Orpheus

Central Italian
early 16th century
Not on view
The unfinished central figure represents Orpheus, the mythological Greek musician and poet, playing his lyre. According to legend, the beauty of Orpheus’s music inspired animals to follow him. In the background stands a colonnaded facade representing the Septizonium, the ancient Roman building that was destroyed in 1589, several decades after this drawing was produced. The figure of Orpheus remains incomplete either because the sheet was used to transfer the finished background to an engraving plate, on which there was a preexisting central figure, or, alternatively, the drawing may have been copied from an unfinished engraving.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Orpheus
  • Artist: Central Italian , early 16th century
  • Date: early 16th century
  • Culture: Central Italian
  • Medium: Pen and brown ink
  • Dimensions: 9 3/16 x 6 7/16 in. (23.4 x 16.4 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.1.253
  • Curatorial Department: The Robert Lehman Collection

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