Object Timeline
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1938 |
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2015 |
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2025 |
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Drawing (Italy)
This is a Drawing. We acquired it in 1938. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.
The double-headed eagle of Austria, clasping in its talons the crescent of Turkey, provides the key to the occasion for the arch. The Austrians waged war twice in the late 17th century against Turkey and were victors in both 1664 and again in 1683 when they heroically defended Vienna.
In accordance with the established arrangement of triumphal arches, sacred personages or gods and goddesses (here Mars and probably Minerva) occupy the highest portion, and the human protagonists, here the captor and vanquished prisoners, are at the lower level. Like many other 17th-century triumphal arches, however, the exuberant decoration piled high, in Baroque style, over a single arch diverges sharply from the Roman prototype.
It is credited Museum purchase through gift of various donors and from Eleanor G. Hewitt Fund.
Cite this object as
Drawing (Italy); Museum purchase through gift of various donors and from Eleanor G. Hewitt Fund; 1938-88-3724
