Spechio di pensieri delle belle et Virtudiose donne

Spechio di pensieri delle belle et Virtudiose donne

Matteo Pagano

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Published by Matteo Pagano, Italian, 1515-1588, Venice. Illustrated title page with printer's mark, 26 pages of designs used for cut-work and embroidery by counted threads.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Spechio di pensieri delle belle et Virtudiose donneSpechio di pensieri delle belle et Virtudiose donneSpechio di pensieri delle belle et Virtudiose donneSpechio di pensieri delle belle et Virtudiose donneSpechio di pensieri delle belle et Virtudiose donne

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.