Fiore D'Ogni Virtu Per le Nobili Et Honeste Matrone, page 8 (recto)

Isabella Catanea Parasole

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Designed by Isabella Catanea Parasole, Italian, ca. 1575-ca. 1625, published by Antonio Fachetti, Rome. From top to bottom, and left to right: Design is divided into 2 halves. Left half is decorated with 2 triangular motifs formed by curving vines with flowers that sit upon an ornamented rectangle, inside which are 8-petaled flowers that flank a central mandorla shape. Right half is decorated with 2 ellipse motifs with a flower at the very top that sit upon an ornamented rectangle, inside which are 2 circles decorated with foliage and acorn motifs.

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