Group of Standing Female Saints (the Holy Virgins)

Anonymous, Italian, 16th to 17th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This drawing entered the Met's collection with an incorrect attribution to Sodoma, which had been scribbled on the backing of the original sheet. A new attribution has been proposed to Filippo di Benedetto Paladini (ca. 1544-ca. 1614), one of the last Tuscan Mannerist painters, who worked in Malta between 1590 and 1595 (Vita Segreto, written communication, 9/2/2012). Dr. Segreto, who is publishing this rather finished drawing in her monograph on the artist, has also suggested that it represents the rare subject of the Holy Virgins, which had special meaning in religious art commissioned by patrons connected with the Jesuit order. The style and technique of the drawing certainly agree with those of Florentine late Mannerist draftsmen. Some of the previous ideas about the drawing's authorship have included "Lombard school, ca. 1600," as written on the mount by Willam Griswold. Some years ago, I suggested in a note on the mount, "Florentine, perhaps close to Giovanni da San Giovanni?" (Carmen C. Bambach)

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art