Frontispiece to 'Eikon Basilike'

Wenceslaus Hollar

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Frontispiece to 'Eikon Basilike' (a version of William Marshall's design); emblematical design in two compartments; to right, Charles I on a terrace kneeling on his left knee, looking upwards in profile to right, holding a crown of thorns, a book propped on the table in front of him, and a crown and globe at his feet; a ray extends from his left eye to the crown of martyrdom at top right; another ray from the back of his head extends to clouds in the left-hand compartment where a rock rises from a stormy sea, in the foreground, a shore with palm trees one bearing a tray laden with weights.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art