Scene with a Feast of Love in a Circle at Center

Theodor de Bry

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In a circle at center, a scene with the Feast of Love in a garden with a large building in the background at right. In the forefront, five female figures and one male figure dance around a table with fruit. The male figure, at left drapes his arm around one of the female figures, while the figure at the right holds a torch. Various animals, including an eagle at lower right, a turtle at lower left, and a monkey at top center, also appear in the celebration. Around the central circle, a band with rosettes and vines growing various fruits. In the corners, inscription in Latin on ribbons.

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