Joseph Aresti

Joseph Aresti’s tiny 1825 drawing looks like a love letter folded into a wallet. He was the kind of draftsman who sketched on scraps of paper while waiting for the ferry in Venice, turning napkins and playing cards into sharp little figures. One brown ink line could nail a hat or a hand; he never wasted a stroke. Track down the untitled sheet—it’s tucked inside the Met’s “Drawings and Prints” drawer labeled 1975.1.981—and you’ll see why he belongs in your pocket-sized gallery: a single sheet that proves less can hold everything.