Corona delle Nobili et Virtuose Donne: Libro I-IV, page 43 (recto)

Cesare Vecellio

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Published by Cesare Vecellio, Italian, Pieve di Cadore 1521-1601 Venice, Venice. From top to bottom, and left to right: Design composed of 4 horizontal registers. Top register is decorated with a pattern of 2 composite male figures with deer legs flanking another male figure with a plant stem for legs. Second register is decorated with an alternating pattern of a 4-petaled flower framed inside a diamond and a 4-petaled flower framed inside a circle. Third register is decorated with an alternating pattern of a triangular motif with a fleur-de-lis at the top followed by a flower. Fourth register is decorated with a pattern of composite creatures flanking a vase and seated putti.

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