Nueva Arte a Escrivir
1615–31
Medium
plates: engraving, woodcut
Dimensions
Overall: 8 1/2 x 11 in. (21.6 x 27.9 cm) (pages are separated)
Classification
Books
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Felix M. Warburg, 1928
Accession Number
28.106.12
Tags
Art Historical Context
Pedro Díaz Morante’s *Nueva Arte a Escrivir* (1615–31) is a rare Spanish writing manual preserved in the Metropolitan Museum’s Department of Drawings and Prints. Created during Spain’s Golden Age, the book offered aspiring scribes and students practical models for elegant penmanship at a time when clear, beautiful handwriting was essential for diplomacy, commerce, and personal correspondence. Its pages, now separated, demonstrate a range of scripts through carefully engraved and woodcut plates that could be studied and copied. The medium itself is significant: engravings provided the crisp li...