Kneeling, Seated and Standing Figures (recto); Seated, Kneeling and Reclining Figures (verso)

Perino del Vaga (Pietro Buonaccorsi)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Many of Perino’s most appealing drawings exhibit the fluid, energetic, and scribbly style seen here. The manner in which the entire sheet is filled with quick, unrelated sketches reveals the artist’s creative imagination at work. Although none of the figures or vignettes has been connected with a specific painting or other finished composition, at least some appear to represent ideas for an Adoration of the Christ Child. Venus and Cupid are recognizable among the sketches on the verso, while some of the reclining figures with upraised arms may be preliminary ideas for Jupiter and Juno in the monumental design for a tapestry of that subject exhibited nearby.

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