The Merchant, from the Dance of Death

The Merchant, from the Dance of Death

Wenceslaus Hollar

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Two merchants on a quay with with corded bales and barrels. Death drags one of them away, to the left, from the pile of coins he is counting.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Merchant, from the Dance of DeathThe Merchant, from the Dance of DeathThe Merchant, from the Dance of DeathThe Merchant, from the Dance of DeathThe Merchant, from the Dance of Death

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.