Cover for 'Nuevo Oraculo ó sea El Libro del Porvenír', an old women seated at a table and reading someone's fortune from cards
ca. 1880–1910
Medium
Photo-relief and letterpress in red ink on tan paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 5 13/16 × 7 7/8 in. (14.8 × 20 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1946
Accession Number
46.46.234
Tags
Art Historical Context
This vibrant print serves as the cover for *Nuevo Oraculo ó El Libro del Porven* (New Oracle, or The Book of the Future), a popular-telling guide from late 19th- to early 20th-century Mexico It depicts an elderly woman seated a table, intently reading someone's fate from a spread of cards, evoking the mystical allure of cartomancy. Accompanied by cats—symbols of superstition and the supernatural—the scene captures everyday folk practices blending curiosity, fate, and a touch of the eerie. Created by publisher Antonio Vanegas Arroyo in collaboration with illustrator José Guadalupe Posada, reno...