Seated Young Woman

Adam Elsheimer

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Seated alone in deep shadow, this partially draped young woman might be Bathsheba, whom King David spied upon and seduced, or Susanna, who was caught bathing in her garden by two lascivious church elders. Diminutive here, she appears enormously vulnerable. Adam Elsheimer was the most singular and influential German artist to follow Dürer. It was especially the poetic atmosphere and the meticulous, miniature-like execution, as one can see in this very fine gouache, that were much admired by the next generation of artists, among which were Peter Paul Rubens and Rembrandt.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art