The Bay of Naples with Vesuvius in the Background

The Bay of Naples with Vesuvius in the Background

Christen Købke

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Unlike many of his fellow Danish artists, Købke did not revel in travel, but at the urging of his family and friends, he left for Italy in August of 1838 for a brief trip. As a landscape and decorative painter, he was drawn not to the grand edifices of Rome but to the murals of Pompei, coastline of Naples, and island of Capri. The artist often made sketches for compositions that he completed on his return to Copenhagen; this detailed drawing, however, is a recording of a finished painting, now in the Toledo Art Museum.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Bay of Naples with Vesuvius in the BackgroundThe Bay of Naples with Vesuvius in the BackgroundThe Bay of Naples with Vesuvius in the BackgroundThe Bay of Naples with Vesuvius in the BackgroundThe Bay of Naples with Vesuvius in the Background

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.