Drawings for Two Masquerade or Ballet Costumes ('Sospiri' and 'Baci')

Giovanni Battista Paggi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Drawings for two masquerade or ballet costumes, one for a male character, possibly named 'Sospiri' (sighing), and the other for a female character, possibly named 'Baci' (kisses). The male character, on the left, wears a typical 16th century costume, made up of a coat, tight-fitting breeches, stockings, and flat shoes. The female character, on the right, wears calf-length dress with draped fabrics, possibly simulating the classical styles from Antiquity. Both characters wear elaborate headdresses, hers made up of a couple of loving birds which flank her forehead.

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