Pretiosa Gemma delle virtuose donne, page 16 (recto)

Pretiosa Gemma delle virtuose donne, page 16 (recto)

Isabella Catanea Parasole

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Written by Isabella Catanea Parasole, Italian, ca. 1575-ca. 1625, published by Lucchino Gargano, Venice, bound by Hardy-Mennil. Design composed of 2 horizontal registers. Top register is decorated with 2 ornamented diamonds that flank both sides of a central quatrefoil ornamented with a semi-circle pattern. Bottom register is decorated with squares ornamented with an alternating pattern of a floral and a diamond motif; bottom register also has a decorative border, characterized by diagonal lines, arrow heads, and squares, placed on the top and bottom.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pretiosa Gemma delle virtuose donne, page 16 (recto)Pretiosa Gemma delle virtuose donne, page 16 (recto)Pretiosa Gemma delle virtuose donne, page 16 (recto)Pretiosa Gemma delle virtuose donne, page 16 (recto)Pretiosa Gemma delle virtuose donne, page 16 (recto)

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.