Saint Sebastian
Master of the Playing Cards
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Only two early impressions of this print are known. Its technique, consisting of strongly outlined forms modeled with light evenly traced parallel strokes, approaches that employed in drawings of this period. The print has traditionally been assigned to the Master of the Playing Cards, an artist probably active in Alsace, though the rather unstable poses and the muddled formation of the small hill on the left have led some scholars to question the attribution. The overall polished technique and details such as the naturalistic rendering of the saint's chest suggest that the engraver, if not the master himself, was certainly an accomplished artist closely familiar with his work. As in the Master's more securly attributed prints, the technique approaches that found in contemporary drawings--strongly outlined forms modeled with extremely fine parallel strokes. These thin, sharp, and slightly fuzzy lines were probably created with a drypoint stylus rather than a burin, the tool more typically associated with engraving, which produces slightly broader and more tapered lines. Saint Sebastian, a frequent subject of prints from this period, was regarded as one of the main guardian saints against the plague.
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.