Splendore delle virtuose giovani, page 9 (verso)

Splendore delle virtuose giovani, page 9 (verso)

Iseppo Foresto

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Designed by Iseppo Foresto, published by Jeronimo Calepino, Venice. From top to bottom, and left to right: Design composed of 3 vertical columns printed upon a grid. Left column is decorated in the center with a 4-petaled flower enclosed in a diamond that forms part of 2 intertwining vines with leaves. Middle column is decorated with a central floral element that is flanked on both sides by a lion with a spotted body, which sits upon a vine that coils outward. Right column is decorated with a central interlace motif formed by black lines with whtie dots, flanked by foliage on both sides.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Splendore delle virtuose giovani, page 9 (verso)Splendore delle virtuose giovani, page 9 (verso)Splendore delle virtuose giovani, page 9 (verso)Splendore delle virtuose giovani, page 9 (verso)Splendore delle virtuose giovani, page 9 (verso)

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.