London Viewed from the Milford Stairs

London Viewed from the Milford Stairs

Wenceslaus Hollar

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

London viewed from Milford Stairs; the north bank of the Thames looking eastward from the foreshore at Milford Stairs below Arundel House, in left foreground a wooden embankment with steps down to a wooden landing stage along which a man and woman walk, a ferryman approaches with two passengers; beyond and to the right is the sweep of the north bank as far as London Bridge and Southwark on extreme right.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

London Viewed from the Milford StairsLondon Viewed from the Milford StairsLondon Viewed from the Milford StairsLondon Viewed from the Milford StairsLondon Viewed from the Milford Stairs

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.