Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence

Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence

Peter Paul Rubens

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This drawing is made after Rubens' painting in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. It is the preparatory drawing for the engraving by Lucas Vorsterman. Therefore, the contours are traced with a stylus to transfer the composition to the copperplate. To facilitate the engraver's work, a lot of attention was paid to the division of light and dark within the composition. The sheet was possibly made by Anthony van Dyck and retouched in pen by Rubens.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Martyrdom of Saint LawrenceMartyrdom of Saint LawrenceMartyrdom of Saint LawrenceMartyrdom of Saint LawrenceMartyrdom of Saint Lawrence

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.