Cavaliers in a City Square

Jean de Saint-Igny

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Elegantly dressed aristocratic figures converse in small groups in a city square. Saint-Igny’s skill is on display, both in his detailed treatment of the figures’ flamboyant attire and coiffures, and in his precise rendering of the architectural setting. Not only a painter and draftsman, Saint-Igny was also a printmaker—technical background that is evident here in his tightly controlled and highly varied use of line.

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