The Falconer and the Lady, from the series Scenes of Daily Life

The Falconer and the Lady, from the series Scenes of Daily Life

Israhel van Meckenem

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This depiction of courtly love is the most refined within Israhel's series of engravings devoted to amorous relationships, from the chivalrous to the lascivious, among different classes. In fifteenth-century imagery the noble pastime of falconry was traditionally associated with love. Here a falcon perches on the gloved hand of an elegantly dressed suitor. As his beloved demurely gazes down, she throws a furtive glance in his direction. From her headdress a cloth unfurls, echoing the banderoles that flutter above the couple. Such airborne ribbons often displayed a dialogue between the figures: here they may have been left blank so that collectors might inscribe their own. Israhel a practicing goldsmith, was also one of the most prolific and innovative fifteen-century masters of the related art of engraving. While a large part of his oeuvre consists of copies after other printmakers, many of his later works, like the series Scenes of Daily Life, were unique and witty turns on traditional subjects.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Falconer and the Lady, from the series Scenes of Daily LifeThe Falconer and the Lady, from the series Scenes of Daily LifeThe Falconer and the Lady, from the series Scenes of Daily LifeThe Falconer and the Lady, from the series Scenes of Daily LifeThe Falconer and the Lady, from the series Scenes of Daily Life

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.