Study of Boy's Head; the Queen of Sheba Before Solomon

Study of Boy's Head; the Queen of Sheba Before Solomon

Antonio Vassilacchi (called "Il Aliense")

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The author of this well-preserved sheet has recently been identified as the Greek-born Italian painter Vassilacchi, whose nickname, Il Aliense, means "the alien" or "the foreigner." The studies on the lower half, depicting the Queen of Sheba listening to the wisdom of King Solomon, can be connected to the background scene in the artist’s monumental Christ Disputing the Doctors (1593–94) in the church of San Pietro, in Perugia. The large naturalistic rendering of a boy’s head looking down was probably the first motif to be drawn, softly modeled in black chalk with a few strokes of red on the lips. The juxtaposition of the two studies, which gives the sheet a somewhat unusual appearance, is no doubt the result of its having come from a sketchbook.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Study of Boy's Head; the Queen of Sheba Before SolomonStudy of Boy's Head; the Queen of Sheba Before SolomonStudy of Boy's Head; the Queen of Sheba Before SolomonStudy of Boy's Head; the Queen of Sheba Before SolomonStudy of Boy's Head; the Queen of Sheba Before Solomon

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.