The Lamentation
Jan de Beer
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
This exceptionally fine work exemplifies the early sixteenth-century Antwerp Mannerist drawing style. Possibly by Jan de Beer, one of the greatest practitioners of this school, the drawing depicts the Lamentation, with Christ's body laid out on a linen cloth in the foreground and figures around him expressing various stages of mourning and despair. The Virgin Mary kneels above her son's body in the center of the composition, Saint John the Evangelist stands directly behind her, and Mary Magdalene, with a vase of ointment, kneels at Christ's feet. Characteristic of Antwerp Mannerism are the dramatic gestures and postures, the fluttering draperies, the exotic costumes, and the heightened emotional atmosphere of the scene. Adding to the vibrancy of the composition are the drawing technique–the short, energetic strokes in the hatching, in particular–and the tightly packed arrangement of figures. Both of these traits are found in the works of Jan de Beer, whose painted version of the Lamentation (Turin, Galleria Sabauda) also has a richly expressionistic character. This sheet may have been intended as a study for an unknown or never completed painting of the subject.
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.