Study for the Lunette at Poggio a Caiano

The artwork

Three men and three women seated on steps, sketched in pen with a few strokes: this is one of Pontormo's ideas for the Medici villa at Poggio a Caiano. It comes printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• A pen and ink drawing, light and quick, on a long, narrow sheet.
• A landscape format for above a desk, a console table or a bed.
• A gift for lovers of drawing, of the Medici villas and of Tuscany.

Between 1519 and 1520 Pope Leo X, a Medici, had the great hall of the villa at Poggio a Caiano, near Prato, decorated. Pontormo was given a lunette, the half-moon wall beneath the vault: the result was the fresco of Vertumnus and Pomona, the Roman gods of the seasons and of fruit, one of his early masterpieces.

This sheet is one of the studies for that lunette: six figures seated on steps, tried out in pen and diluted ink, with traces of black chalk, before moving on to colour. The original measures 19.8 by 38 centimetres (7.8 x 15.0 in) and is held at the Uffizi; at the exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome it is among the drawings on show.

Above a desk, in a study or in a country house: it is the gift for lovers of drawing and of the Tuscany of the villas.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in)
Framed size: 31 x 44 cm (12.2 x 17.3 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: dark brown with a gold fillet, handmade, with glass