An Aga of the Janizaries

Robert Blyth

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mortimer's design evokes the dangers and exoticism of the East, with this brooding portrait of a Turkish military leader (Janizaries were members of the sultan's guard who acted as protective escorts for European travelers.) Unconcerned with accurately reproducing his subject's military costume, Mortimer instead concentrated on his deeply shadowed eye, intense gaze, and fierce profile. The freedom of Blyth's etching, especially evident in the expressive line used in the ruff, turban, and background shading, is well matched to Mortimer's inventiveness.

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