1622
ink
paper
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Dominant colour
Smaralo Cornuto and Ratsa di Boio is a 1622 ink by French 17th Century, a Baroque work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This sketch shows two strange, towering figures with animal-like faces and long horns. One has a feathered cape, while the other looks like a mix of a horse and a fish, standing on a riverbank. Around them, tiny people scramble in what looks like chaos or a parade. The text at the bottom names the figures *Smaralo Cornuto* and *Ratsa di Boio*, which might be mythical or symbolic characters. The artist used a sharp, sketchy style that makes the scene feel wild and exaggerated. Next, look up etching to see how this technique works.
Seventeenth-century French printmakers turned ink into story. Their tools were burin and acid, paper their stage. Look at the Beggar Woman with Rosary (1622), etched on laid paper, her hands folded around faith, or The…
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