The Prophets David and Daniel

Peter Paul Rubens

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

As a young artist in Italy between 1600 and 1608, Rubens ardently copied the works of art he encountered for both study and later reference. When he made this record of Raphael's fresco above the entrance to the Chigi Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria della Pace, Rome, Rubens introduced subtle changes that transformed Raphael's static, planar composition into a more dynamic and forceful scene. He imbued the foreground figures with a greater sense of mass and intensified their expressions to contrast the prophet's formidable wisdom with the scribe's youthful concentration. Rubens never adapted this composition for his own use, but he was strongly influenced by Raphael's imposing treatment of drapery for figures in the religious scenes he painted upon his return to Antwerp.

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