Arithmetica, from "The Seven Liberal Arts"

Arithmetica, from "The Seven Liberal Arts"

Johann Sadeler I

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

First conceptualized in the Middle Ages, the term "liberal arts" refers to the areas of study deemed necessary to attain an education grounded in classical antiquity. These subjects, which were divided into two categories—the trivium (grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music)—became common themes for allegorical prints in the early modern period.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Arithmetica, from "The Seven Liberal Arts"Arithmetica, from "The Seven Liberal Arts"Arithmetica, from "The Seven Liberal Arts"Arithmetica, from "The Seven Liberal Arts"Arithmetica, from "The Seven Liberal Arts"

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.