Convivio delle Belle Donne, page 21 (recto)
August 1532
Medium
Woodcut
Dimensions
Overall: 7 7/8 x 5 1/2 in. (20 x 14 cm)
Classification
Books|Prints|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1922
Accession Number
22.66.6(40)
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of Renaissance Venice with *Convivio delle Belle Donne, page 21 (recto)*, a woodcut print in August 1532 the collaborative talents of printer Nicolò Zoppino and Matteo da Treviso. a compact 7 7/8 x 5 1/2 inches, this page hails from an illustrated book celebrating the "Banquet of Beautiful Women," a playful nod to the era's fascination with feminine grace and social revelry. Woodcuts like this one were a hallmark of 16th-century printmaking, carved in relief on wooden blocks and inked for affordable, widespread reproduction—perfect for disseminating decorative moti...
About the Artist
Nicolò Zoppino|Matteo da Treviso · 1478–1544
Nicolò Zoppino was an Italian printer and publisher active in Venice and other Italian cities during the first half of the sixteenth century, occupying an important place in the history of early printing and book illustration. Born around 1478, he worked during the golden age of Venetian printing, a period when the city was the dominant center of book production in Europe and publishers competed t...