Poetry (Poesia XXVII)

Master of the E-Series Tarocchi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty engravings of the so-called Tarocchi di Mantegna were not designed by the Mantuan artist Andrea Mantegna and do not form a true tarot deck, for they lack suits, number cards, and face cards. Possibly intended as a didactic game or booklet, the series of images illustrates the hierarchy of the universe, from the lowly beggar to the celestial spheres. After the ten prints representing the states of man and those of the nine Muses with their leader, Apollo—mediators between humanity and knowledge—come the ten that depict personifications of the arts and sciences. The seven traditional liberal arts have been augmented by poetry, philosophy, and theology. Poetry is shown seated in front of Parnassus, playing the flute—symbol of eloquence—as she irrigates the earth with the inspirational waters of the Castalian spring.

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