Goetz von Berlichingen Being Dressed in Armor by His Page George

Goetz von Berlichingen Being Dressed in Armor by His Page George

Eugène Delacroix

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Delacroix made highly finished watercolors such as this one for exhibition and sale beginning in the 1820s. A depiction of the title character from Goethe’s drama "Goetz von Berlichingen," it demonstrates the artist’s dexterity in the medium, integrating opaque and transparent color with various types of brushwork. In rich jewel tones befitting the medieval setting, he skillfully described the texture of the brocade curtain and the glint of the armor, its specificity no doubt a product of his studies of armor in London in 1825.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Goetz von Berlichingen Being Dressed in Armor by His Page GeorgeGoetz von Berlichingen Being Dressed in Armor by His Page GeorgeGoetz von Berlichingen Being Dressed in Armor by His Page GeorgeGoetz von Berlichingen Being Dressed in Armor by His Page GeorgeGoetz von Berlichingen Being Dressed in Armor by His Page George

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.