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The Abduction of Helen

mid-16th century
Not on view
A scene from Greek mythology, the sheet portrays the event that sparked the Trojan War – the abduction of Helen, the beautiful wife of Menelaus (King of Sparta), by Paris, the prince of Troy. Helen, with arms upraised, struggles against her captor in the background, while the dynamically posed sailors, straining to navigate the boat, form the center point of the drama. The drawing may represent a study for a fresco that adorned the façade of a building in Venice, a type of painting for which Giuseppe Salviati was renowned. In 1548, the sixteenth-century writer, Pietro Aretino wrote to Salviati praising him for his chiaroscuro frescoes that adorned the palaces along the Grand Canal in Venice (none of which survive today).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Abduction of Helen
  • Artist: Giuseppe Salviati (Giuseppe Porta, called Il Salviati) (Italian, Castelnuovo di Garfagnana ca. 1520–ca. 1575 Venice)
  • Date: mid-16th century
  • Medium: Pen and brown ink, brown wash, heightened with white (partly oxidized), over traces of black chalk, on light blue paper.
  • Dimensions: 11 15/16 x 15 1/8 in. (30.3 x 38.4 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.1.405
  • Curatorial Department: The Robert Lehman Collection

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Delle differenti maniere di descrivere la voluta ionica e particolarmente della regola ritrovata da Giuseppe Porta detto Salviati, con alcune riflessioni sul capitello ionico.
Multiple artists/makers
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Lucretia instructing her daughters in needlework from Giovanni Ostaus's, La vera perfettione del disegno di varie sorte di recami (Venice, 1557), Giuseppe Salviati (Giuseppe Porta, called Il Salviati) Italian, Woodcut
Lucretia instructing her daughters in needlework from Giovanni Ostaus's, La vera perfettione del disegno di varie sorte di recami (Venice, 1557)
Giuseppe Salviati (Giuseppe Porta, called Il Salviati)
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The Crucifixion, Giuseppe Salviati (Giuseppe Porta, called Il Salviati) Italian, Woodcut
The Crucifixion
Giuseppe Salviati (Giuseppe Porta, called Il Salviati)
1556
Frontispiece to "Le sorti di Francesco Marcolini da Forli intitolato Giardino di Pensieri", Giuseppe Salviati (Giuseppe Porta, called Il Salviati) Italian, Woodcut
Frontispiece to "Le sorti di Francesco Marcolini da Forli intitolato Giardino di Pensieri"
Giuseppe Salviati (Giuseppe Porta, called Il Salviati)
Marco Dente
1540
Frontispiece to 'Le sorti di Francesco Marcolini da Forli intitolato Giardino di Pensieri', Giuseppe Salviati (Giuseppe Porta, called Il Salviati) Italian, Woodcut
Frontispiece to 'Le sorti di Francesco Marcolini da Forli intitolato Giardino di Pensieri'
Giuseppe Salviati (Giuseppe Porta, called Il Salviati)
Marco Dente
1540

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