Cephalus and Procris in two Niches (1538–40): Art, History and Details

Cephalus and Procris in two Niches (1538–40) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is René Boyvin (French, c. 1525–after 1580); Rosso Fiorentino (Italian, 1494–1540).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The Italian Renaissance made an impact outside Italy in the second quarter of the 1500s, when the French king François I invited Italian artists to oversee the decorative program of his chateau at Fontainebleau. Arriving in 1530, Rosso Fiorentino had been deeply influenced by Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes, which he had seen while working in Rome between 1524 and 1527. Rosso’s designs for two figures in niches (which were engraved by René Boyvin) imitate the complexity and tension of Michelangelo’s nudes. In this story from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Cephalus has accidentally impaled his wife Procris, who had been spying on him from the bushes.

Object facts

• Title: Cephalus and Procris in two Niches
• Date: 1538–40
• Creator attribution: René Boyvin (French, c. 1525–after 1580); Rosso Fiorentino (Italian, 1494–1540)
• Culture: France
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Dimensions: Sheet: 20.7 x 26.6 cm (8 1/8 x 10 1/2 in.)
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1991.96

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.