La Vera Perfettione del Disegno di varie sorti di recami, page 13 (recto)

Giovanni Ostaus

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Published by Giovanni Ostaus, Venice, woodcut of Lucrezia designed by Giuseppe Salviati (Giuseppe Porta, called Il Salviati), Italian, Castelnuova di Garfagnana ca. 1520-1575 Venice. From top to bottom, and left to right: Design composed of 4 horizontal registers that are printed upon a grid. First register is decorated with an alternating pattern of a diagonal line and 2 stacked squares ornamented with a floral motif. Second register is decorated with an alternating pattern of an 'X' and sideways 'S' motif. Third register is decorated with 2 overlapping lines forming ovals, and inside of each one is a 4-petaled flower. Fourth register is decorated with a central zigzagging line; placed above and below the line are various 4-petaled flowers.

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