Design for a Reredos or Frame and Setting for an Altar Painting 1552 - 1626

Editor: So, this is Cristoforo Roncalli's "Design for a Reredos or Frame and Setting for an Altar Painting," dating roughly from 1552 to 1626. It's a drawing in ink on paper, currently residing at the Met. I’m immediately struck by its detail. All those figures and architectural flourishes seem incredibly precise. What's your take? What story does it tell, architecturally and socially? Curator: It's fascinating how Roncalli envisions not just a structure, but a setting deeply embedded in the religious and social fabric of its time. Remember the Counter-Reformation’s emphasis on visually stunning displays of faith to counter the rise of Protestantism? Editor: Ah, yes, making a powerful visual statement. So this design isn’t just about aesthetics? Curator: Exactly! Think about where this reredos, this ornamental screen, would have been placed: the altar. The heart of Catholic ritual and a highly contested space in the 16th and 17th centuries. It uses classical elements – the figures, the architectural symmetry – to convey authority and tradition but to reaffirm established religious doctrine as a social power. What does its location in the Met Collection imply to you? Editor: Interesting! I guess that the Museum space sort of neutralizes its initial intention of expressing Catholic social power to more like and artistic documentation of social structure? That’s thought-provoking – how the same art has a completely different message due to it’s context and current socio-political enviroment! Curator: Precisely! By placing the Reredos in our time we emphasize secular scholarship and artistic skill while also making us confront past ideological contentions. Art has the ability to function as visual documents of changes through socio-political struggles. Editor: It's wild how the location in the museum context frames the drawing so much. Thanks, this gives me a whole new way to view it.