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The Apotheosis of Romulus: Design for a Ceiling
About the Artwork
Domenico Maria Canuti made this design for a quadratura ceiling fresco in preparation for a commission at the Palazzo Altieri in Rome. Quadratura describes painting in which architectural elements are painted to appear to be part of the real architectural setting. Canuti focused on establishing the visual coherence between the figures, portraying the deification of Rome’s founder, and the painted architecture by drawing perspective lines at 90-degree and 45-degree angles. The perfectly rendered 24-point stars at the edge of the painted architecture were emblems of the Altieri family.
Inscriptions
Lower right, in black ink: Pietro da Cortona; watermark: Orsini Arms
Provenance
The 'Sagredo-Borghese' album (L. 2103a), with associated inscriptions 'Pietro da Cortona' (recto) and 'S. R. [Scuola Romano] n?. 110' (verso) 1743: Zaccaria Sagredo, Venice, to his wife Cecilia Sagredo, by whom sold circa 1743 1919: Private collection, Lyon, from which sold circa 1919 July 8, 2008: [Christie's, Anonymous Sale, London, England], July 8, 2008, lot 39 July 5, 2017: [Christie's, London, England], July 5, 2017, lot 29, sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH September 11, 2017–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Domenico Maria Canuti (Italian, 1625–1684)
- Date
- c. 1675–76
- Medium
- Black chalk, pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, heightened with white, with perspectival indications
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 24 x 37.7 cm (9 7/16 x 14 13/16 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
- Accession no.
- 2017.104
More by Domenico Maria Canuti in museum collections
Head of a Dominican Nun: Study for the Ecstasy of Saint Dominic
Domenico Maria Canuti1673/75 · Drawing
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00011647
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