The Childhood of Paolo Veronese, from "L'Artiste"

The Childhood of Paolo Veronese, from "L'Artiste"

Adolphe Pierre Riffaut

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This print reproduces one of five paintings Cavé contributed to the Salon of 1845, each on the subject of childhood genius. The critic Arsène Houssaye, editor-in-chief of "L'Artiste," commended the truth and distinction of her painting of Veronese as a child prodigy. Despite his youth, the Italian Renaissance painter appears already a master and instructor of his sister and other young pupils. The inclusion of this lithograph as an illustration for Houssaye's Salon review indicates the recognition and appreciation Cavé received as an artist in her lifetime.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Childhood of Paolo Veronese, from "L'Artiste"The Childhood of Paolo Veronese, from "L'Artiste"The Childhood of Paolo Veronese, from "L'Artiste"The Childhood of Paolo Veronese, from "L'Artiste"The Childhood of Paolo Veronese, from "L'Artiste"

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.