Trionfo Di Virtu. Libro Novo..., page 8 (recto)

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 3 vertical columns that are framed on the top by a border divided into 2 halves that are each decorated with a different floral pattern and on the bottom by another border decorated with a Moresque pattern. Left column is decorated with quatrefoils that are overlapped by twisting vines of flowers. Middle column is decorated with an overlapping pattern of circles and quatrefoils that are both formed by curving vines of leaves and flowers. Right column is decorated with an alternating pattern of circles and quatrefoils that are each ornamented with an interlace pattern formed by vines of leaves.

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