Calligraphic Exercise in Latin (Cursive Script)
early 17th century
Medium
Pen and black and brown ink.
Dimensions
Overall: 6 3/4 × 11 1/16 in. (17.1 × 28.1 cm)
Classification
Albums|Drawings|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Daniel Ergmann Gift, 2014
Accession Number
2014.96(4)
Art Historical Context
Step into the intricate world of 17th calligraphy with this *Calligraphic Exercise in Latin (Cursive Script, an anonymous work from the early 1600s. Crafted with pen and black and brown ink a modest sheet measuring 6 3/4 × 11 1/16 inches, it exemplifies the meticulous practice sheets used by scribes and students to master fluid writing forms. The cursive script—a flowing, connected style—allowed for speed and elegance in everyday correspondence, legal documents, and scholarly notes, contrasting with more rigid gothic scripts of prior eras. In the early 17th century, Latin remained the languag...
About the Artist
Anonymous
In the vast tapestry of art history, "Anonymous" stands not as a singular individual but as a collective designation for countless unidentified creators whose works have endured across millennia. These artists, spanning prehistoric cave painters to medieval illuminators and folk craftsmen, produced the foundational layers of human visual culture. Prior to the Renaissance, when individual fame emer...