Pretiosa Gemma delle virtuose donne, page 27 (recto)

Pretiosa Gemma delle virtuose donne, page 27 (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 that are both framed on the top and bottom by decorative borders consisting of 2 different patterns characterized by linear, circular, and triangular forms. Top register is decorated with 4 squares: first and second squares are decorated with the same floral pattern (one is printed in a reversed position), third square is decorated with a central quatrefoil motif, and fourth square is decorated with 4 circular forms with 2 lines intersecting each one to form an 'X'. Bottom register is decorated with 4 squares: first square is ornamented with a curving 'S' pattern, second square is ornamented with a quatrefoil formed of circles and triangles, third and fourth squares share the same ornamented 'X' motif.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pretiosa Gemma delle virtuose donne, page 27 (recto)Pretiosa Gemma delle virtuose donne, page 27 (recto)Pretiosa Gemma delle virtuose donne, page 27 (recto)Pretiosa Gemma delle virtuose donne, page 27 (recto)Pretiosa Gemma delle virtuose donne, page 27 (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.