Corona delle Nobile et Virtuose Donne, Libro Terzo, title page (recto)

Cesare Vecellio

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Designed by Cesare Vecellio, Italian, Pieve di Cadore 1521-1601 Venice, Venice, published by Alessandro de' Vecchi, Italian, active 17th century, Venice. Title printed in black. Below title is a scene depicting a female robed statue that stands upon a tortoise while holding a round object in her right hand. In the background on the left are 2 women sewing textiles and on the right a man sculpts another statue.

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