Teatro delle Nobili et Virtuose Donne..., title page (recto)

Isabella Catanea Parasole

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Written by Isabella Catanea Parasole, Italian, ca. 1575-ca. 1625, published by Mauritio Bona, Rome. Engraved illustrated title page. Title printed in black onto a cartouche in the center, which is framed by an unidentified coat of arms above and a portrait of Princess Elisabeth of Austria and Spain at the bottom. The title is further surrounded by robed and nude putti that sit and lean against various architectural elements. At the top left and right corners are 2 sculpted diabolical faces that hold bunches of fruit with their mouths.

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