Dog (A Foxhound Viewed from Behind)

George Stubbs

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Stubbs was unusual among his contemporaries for both designing and etching this print himself. It is one of a series in which he experimentd with several methods at once. Here, most of the plate was executed in the relatively new technique of stipple engraving, with some mezzotint possibly added to produce the velvety darkness of the background. Against this shadowy setting the solid and carefully delineated form of the listening foxhound stands out in pronounced relief.

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