Lucidario di Recami, page 10 (recto)

Iseppo Foresto

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Designed by Iseppo Foresto, published by Jeronimo Calepino, 1564. From top to bottom, and left to right: Design composed of 2 vertical columns; the right column is printed upon a grid. Left column is decorated in the center with 2 symmetrical composite creatures that have a human face, a bird's wings, and a lion's body; these creatures sit upon a vine that coils outward. Right column is decorated in the center with a tall flower that 2 putti climb; this central element is framed by a curvilinear shape formed by vines that attach to another winged putto at the outer edges of the column.

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