Apulegio volgare, diuiso in undeci libri, novamente stampato & in molti lochi aggiontoui che nella prima impressione gli manchaua, & de molte più figure adornato

Apulegio volgare, diuiso in undeci libri, novamente stampato & in molti lochi aggiontoui che nella prima impressione gli manchaua, & de molte più figure adornato

Lucius Madaurensis Apuleius

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Boiardo's popular translation of Apuleius' Metamorphoses (also known as 'The Golden Ass'), which originated in the Ferrarese court in the 1470s at the request of Ercole I d'Este, was only supplanted in 1549, when a new translation by Agnolo Firenzuola appeared. The late classical work of Apuleius tells of the misadventures of a young man who, attempting to use magic in order to fly, is accidentally transformed into an ass. In this illustration, poor Lucius is punished for having escaped from the robbers who stole him. The narrator (Lucius) tells us that he would have been beaten to death if not for the malodorous aftermath—suggested in cartoon fashion in this illustration—of the vegetable feast he had enjoyed during his brief period of freedom.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Apulegio volgare, diuiso in undeci libri, novamente stampato & in molti lochi aggiontoui che nella prima impressione gli manchaua, & de molte più figure adornatoApulegio volgare, diuiso in undeci libri, novamente stampato & in molti lochi aggiontoui che nella prima impressione gli manchaua, & de molte più figure adornatoApulegio volgare, diuiso in undeci libri, novamente stampato & in molti lochi aggiontoui che nella prima impressione gli manchaua, & de molte più figure adornatoApulegio volgare, diuiso in undeci libri, novamente stampato & in molti lochi aggiontoui che nella prima impressione gli manchaua, & de molte più figure adornatoApulegio volgare, diuiso in undeci libri, novamente stampato & in molti lochi aggiontoui che nella prima impressione gli manchaua, & de molte più figure adornato

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.