Head and shoulders of a woman with a veil and diaphanous neckware

Head and shoulders of a woman with a veil and diaphanous neckware

Wenceslaus Hollar

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Head and shoulders of a young woman, directed slightly to left, looking towards the viewer; wearing a veil held with pearls, and dress with diaphanous lace front, attached to ornate low-cut bodice, with frilled standing collar.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Head and shoulders of a woman with a veil and diaphanous neckwareHead and shoulders of a woman with a veil and diaphanous neckwareHead and shoulders of a woman with a veil and diaphanous neckwareHead and shoulders of a woman with a veil and diaphanous neckwareHead and shoulders of a woman with a veil and diaphanous neckware

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.