Mount Olympus from Larissa, Thessaly, Greece

Mount Olympus from Larissa, Thessaly, Greece

Edward Lear

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In this panoramic vista, figures in traditional Greek costume converse on a road, with a river or lake beyond and the horizon filled with a mountain range crowned by Mount Olympus, the country's highest peak.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mount Olympus from Larissa, Thessaly, GreeceMount Olympus from Larissa, Thessaly, GreeceMount Olympus from Larissa, Thessaly, GreeceMount Olympus from Larissa, Thessaly, GreeceMount Olympus from Larissa, Thessaly, Greece

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.