A Thing of Beauty

Written By Molly Suber Thorpe
Monumenta Layout 1.jpeg
80 Monumenta Illustrations
80 Monumenta Illustrations
$22.00

Real 16th-century illustrations in full color that have been carefully restored and isolated on transparent backgrounds. Extremely high-resolution with stunning detail.

This digital download pack contains 80 transparent .PNG files of stunning, full-color illustrations from the Renaissance period. The pack includes 12 bonuses, too: layout templates and parchment paper backgrounds.

Each .PNG is a real watercolor painting from the 1590s, that has been carefully restored and color-corrected, and then extracted from its original background. These originally appeared in Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta, one of the most exceptional examples of calligraphy and illustration ever made. We took high-resolution scans of these centuries-old pages and meticulously extracted 80 full-color illustrations of flowers, insects, fruits, shells, and more.

Molly Suber Thorpe

A calligrapher, teacher, and author, Molly’s work spans both modern lettering and historical script. She writes about calligraphy and handwriting as creative disciplines—shaped by tools, technique, habit, and attention—and considers what it means to write by hand in a digital age. In addition to designing custom lettering for clients, she creates books, free resources, and online classes for people who want to develop their calligraphy and handwriting, whether as a creative outlet, a professional skill, or both.

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A Pair of Blackbirds
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Collection of Shells