Bird's-Eye View of the City of Casale di Monferrato

Bird's-Eye View of the City of Casale di Monferrato

Francesco Zucchi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Large horizontal sheet with a detailed rendering of a birds-eye view of the city of Casale di Monferrato in Piemonte. In the seventeenth century, the city was under French rule and during that time, Louis XIV’s great military strategist, Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban (1633-1707) applied his ideals for the city walls and battlements to the medieval plan of the town, which are clearly visible in this rendering of the city in birds-eye view. by Francesco Zucchi. The Italian artist was known for his precise landscapes and city views, which were often made in preparation for a print or book illustration.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bird's-Eye View of the City of Casale di MonferratoBird's-Eye View of the City of Casale di MonferratoBird's-Eye View of the City of Casale di MonferratoBird's-Eye View of the City of Casale di MonferratoBird's-Eye View of the City of Casale di Monferrato

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.