Presentation in the Temple

Peter Paul Rubens

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The first great altarpiece Rubens painted after his return from Italy was The Descent from the Cross, commissioned in 1611 for the chapel of the arquebusiers in the Antwerp Cathedral. The triptych was dedicated to Saint Christopher, the guild's patron saint, and the theme was the carrying of Christ. This early study is for the inside right wing, where it is Simeon, the high priest, who carries the infant Christ. Rubens used bold pen strokes to block out and then make changes in the positions of the figures; in the final painting, which is still in the cathedral at Antwerp, Rubens changed the places of Simeon and the prophetess Anna.

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