La Gloria et l'Honore di Ponti Tagliati, E Ponti in Aere, page 5 (verso)

Matteo Pagano

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Published by Matteo Pagano, Italian, 1515-1588, Venice. From top to bottom, and left to right: Design composed of 4 vertical columns printed upon a grid. First column is decorated with a curving vine of solid black and white dotted leaves, upon which 2 birds are placed. Second column is decorated with a curving vine of solid black and white dotted leaves, and 6-petaled flowers. Third column is decorated with an alternating pattern of interlace motifs and diamonds surrounded by leaves. Fourth column is decorated with a pattern of curving black leaves.

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