The Martyrdom of the Apostle Thomas

Giovanni Lanfranco

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

An excellent example of Lanfranco's Neapolitan manner with pen and ink, this study is preparatory for a fresco of the Martyrdom of Saint Matthias, at the right of a window in the inner façade of the church of Santi Apostoli, Naples. Between 1638 and 1646 Lanfranco frescoed the interior of this church with scenes of the Apostles' deaths by martyrdom. Other studies for the same compositions are now in the Museo di Capodimonte (Naples), Royal Collections at Windsor Castle, and the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi (Florence).

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