Corona delle Nobile et Virtuose Donne, Libro Terzo, page 10 (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. From top to bottom, and left to right: Design composed of 2 horizontal registers. Top register is decorated with 3 flowers (left and right flowers have 5 petals and middle flower has 3 petals) that are each separated by a smaller floral or foliage element. Bottom register is decorated with a central 5-petaled flower that hangs upside down and is characterized by stems that curve outward; underneath each curve is another flower.

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