Four Saints (recto); Two Saints, Seated Madonna, and Kneeling Figure (verso)

Anonymous, Italian, probably Umbrian, 14th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

One of the earliest Italian drawings in The Met collection, this thin and fragile sheet once formed part of a late medieval model book. Such volumes contained repertories of carefully ordered motifs that could be studied and copied by members of a workshop, aiding in the instruction of young apprentices and ensuring a common style across hands. This page presents four principal figures in varying poses: a seated saint, a standing saint, the Virgin Mary cradling the Christ Child, and a figure who prays on one knee. Rather than invent new forms, artists could repurpose these exempla in compositions for works in other media, such as paintings. That the drawing has suffered significantly speaks to its use as an essential working tool and to the vicissitudes of collecting.

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