Portrait of Galileo Galilei set within an elaborate cartouche

Francesco Villamena

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The talented engraver Francesco Villamena moved in a circle of collectors, scholars, and antiquarians that included Vincenzo Giustiniani and Cassiano dal Pozzo, both of whom were godparents to his children. Although Villamena often engraved the drawings of others, he was an accomplished draftsman who designed, among other things, striking images of itinerant tradesmen. Villamena's animated portrait of the famed and controversial astronomer, which may reproduce a model by another artist, was commissioned to illustrate Galileo's 'Istoria e dimostrazioni intorno alle macchie solari' (1613). It was only when Villamena was commissioned to engrave a title page for Galileo's Saggiatore (1623), and the portrait was used a second time, that he added his signature to the plate.

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