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Domenico Maria Canuti

The Apotheosis of Romulus: Design for a Ceiling

c. 1675–76
Black chalk, pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, heightened with white, with perspectival indications

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In the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · as of July 2026

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FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

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.

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