Allegory of the Psalm of David; Misericordia seated to the left feeding four children with milk from her breast, Truth seated to the right holding an open book in her left hand and her foot resting on a globe, Justice stands behind to the left holding a pair of scales and embracing Peace who stands to the right holding a caduceus

Allegory of the Psalm of David; Misericordia seated to the left feeding four children with milk from her breast, Truth seated to the right holding an open book in her left hand and her foot resting on a globe, Justice stands behind to the left holding a pair of scales and embracing Peace who stands to the right holding a caduceus

Agostino Carracci

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The drawing for the print is in the Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna (inv.no. 2032).


Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Allegory of the Psalm of David; Misericordia seated to the left feeding four children with milk from her breast, Truth seated to the right holding an open book in her left hand and her foot resting on a globe, Justice stands behind to the left holding a pair of scales and embracing Peace who stands to the right holding a caduceusAllegory of the Psalm of David; Misericordia seated to the left feeding four children with milk from her breast, Truth seated to the right holding an open book in her left hand and her foot resting on a globe, Justice stands behind to the left holding a pair of scales and embracing Peace who stands to the right holding a caduceusAllegory of the Psalm of David; Misericordia seated to the left feeding four children with milk from her breast, Truth seated to the right holding an open book in her left hand and her foot resting on a globe, Justice stands behind to the left holding a pair of scales and embracing Peace who stands to the right holding a caduceusAllegory of the Psalm of David; Misericordia seated to the left feeding four children with milk from her breast, Truth seated to the right holding an open book in her left hand and her foot resting on a globe, Justice stands behind to the left holding a pair of scales and embracing Peace who stands to the right holding a caduceusAllegory of the Psalm of David; Misericordia seated to the left feeding four children with milk from her breast, Truth seated to the right holding an open book in her left hand and her foot resting on a globe, Justice stands behind to the left holding a pair of scales and embracing Peace who stands to the right holding a caduceus

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.