
Hans von Zürch Goltshmidt
Wenceslaus Hollar
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Portrait of Hans von Zürich after Holbein with the sitter shown half-length facing front wearing wide soft hat and cloak doubled at the shoulders over thick undercoat. The sitter is believed to be a Swiss goldsmith who worked at the court of Henry VIII (a source that identifies him as the Swiss artist Hans Asper has not been confirmed).
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.