Jupiter tumbling from a horse-drawn carriage at right, Ganymede riding Jupiter's eagle upper center, below Venus and to her right, the three Graces

Jupiter tumbling from a horse-drawn carriage at right, Ganymede riding Jupiter's eagle upper center, below Venus and to her right, the three Graces

Master of the Die

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Following Ovid's brief account of Ganymede's abduction (Metamorphoses 10.155–61), the scene shown in this engraving is about love. Cupid is the central character, and Ganymede and the eagle are relegated accessories, testifying to the power of the infant god—even in his sleep—to disarm the supreme ruler of Olympus. Mercury, messenger of the gods, often assisted Jupiter with his love affairs. Here, he rushes to help his father, while Venus, in the company of the Graces, watches over her son.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jupiter tumbling from a horse-drawn carriage at right, Ganymede riding Jupiter's eagle upper center, below Venus and to her right, the three GracesJupiter tumbling from a horse-drawn carriage at right, Ganymede riding Jupiter's eagle upper center, below Venus and to her right, the three GracesJupiter tumbling from a horse-drawn carriage at right, Ganymede riding Jupiter's eagle upper center, below Venus and to her right, the three GracesJupiter tumbling from a horse-drawn carriage at right, Ganymede riding Jupiter's eagle upper center, below Venus and to her right, the three GracesJupiter tumbling from a horse-drawn carriage at right, Ganymede riding Jupiter's eagle upper center, below Venus and to her right, the three Graces

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.