Ce est ung tractat de la noble art de leguille ascavoir ouvraiges de spaigne... page 21 (verso)
after 1527
Medium
Woodcut
Dimensions
Overall: 6 7/8 x 5 11/16 in. (17.5 x 14.5 cm)
Classification
Books|(not assigned)|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mary M. Greenwood, in memory of Eliza Rudd Greenwood, 1953
Accession Number
53.566.3(42)
Tags
Art Historical Context
This woodcut appears on page 21 verso of *Ce est tractat de la noble de leguille ascavoir ouvraiges spaigne...*, a sixteenth-century pattern printed after 1527 by Willem Vosterman in Antwerp. The volume served as a practical guide to embroidery and needlework, offering ornamental designs that readers could transfer to fabric. At roughly 6 7/8 by 5 11/16 inches, the compact page exemplifies the portable format that made such pattern books popular across Europe. Woodcut printing was ideally suited to these ornamental publications. The technique allowed fine lines and repeating motifs—here flora...
About the Artist
Willem Vosterman
Willem Vosterman was a Netherlandish engraver and printmaker who worked within the rich tradition of graphic art that flourished in the Low Countries during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Precise details of his birth, death, and training are not firmly established in the historical record, but his surviving prints reflect the skilled craftsmanship and commercial acuity that characterized...