A Cardinal Examining a Painting in a Cloister

François Marius Granet

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Architectural motifs often provided the point of departure for Granet’s works, and, as a devoted Catholic, he had a particular predilection for religious interiors. In this sketch, possibly a preliminary idea for a larger painting, he used a few bold pen strokes to suggest the repetitive rhythm of the columns and vaulting of a Renaissance cloister, where a cardinal has stopped among a crowd of curious monks to inspect a painting. The bright light entering through the arch at left bathes the work of art on the opposite wall and draws attention to it. Granet trained only briefly with Jacques Louis David, but the master reportedly praised his skills of "chiaroscuro and beautiful effects of light."

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