Trionfo Di Virtu. Libro Novo..., page 4 (verso)

Matteo Pagano

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Published by Matteo Pagano, Italian, 1515-1588, Venice. From top to bottom, and left to right: Design composed of 2 horizontal sections that are separated in the center by a narrow white register. Top section is decorated with a curving vine of leaves from which hangs a tassle (?) that has a charm in the form of a sun with a face. Bottom section is decorated with a curving carnivorous plant that wraps around a torch of fire; at each side of the plant is an ornamented pot.

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