Typographic Title Page with a Vignette Depicting the Allegorical Figure of Justice, from Thronus Justitiae, tredecim pulcherrimus tabulis...

Typographic Title Page with a Vignette Depicting the Allegorical Figure of Justice, from Thronus Justitiae, tredecim pulcherrimus tabulis...

Willem van Swanenburg

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This print is from a set of 13 plates depicting "pictures of justice", with scenes from the Bible, history, and legend. The prints are executed by Willem Swaneburg after designs by Joachim Wtewael. The prints were first published by Christoffel van Sichem in 1606. This print is the typographic title page, which is not described by Hollstein, who only includes the engraved tite page depicting King David and Solomon. This title page incorrectly states the number of plates as twelve, but a sheet of paper has been pasted on top of the first part of the word "duodecim," correcting it to read "tredecim."

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Typographic Title Page with a Vignette Depicting the Allegorical Figure of Justice, from Thronus Justitiae, tredecim pulcherrimus tabulis...Typographic Title Page with a Vignette Depicting the Allegorical Figure of Justice, from Thronus Justitiae, tredecim pulcherrimus tabulis...Typographic Title Page with a Vignette Depicting the Allegorical Figure of Justice, from Thronus Justitiae, tredecim pulcherrimus tabulis...Typographic Title Page with a Vignette Depicting the Allegorical Figure of Justice, from Thronus Justitiae, tredecim pulcherrimus tabulis...Typographic Title Page with a Vignette Depicting the Allegorical Figure of Justice, from Thronus Justitiae, tredecim pulcherrimus tabulis...

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.