The Triumph of the Church: Ecclesia Presented with the Doctrines, Seated in a Chariot Attended by the Four Doctors of the Church

The Triumph of the Church: Ecclesia Presented with the Doctrines, Seated in a Chariot Attended by the Four Doctors of the Church

Otto van Veen

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This Triumph, based on a similar composition by Johannes Stradanus (see the drawing hanging to the left), was made by Van Veen preparatory to a series of paintings, dated about 1615-20, that represent the Triumphs of the Church, now in the Bavarian State Collections at Bamberg. In their turn, Van Veen's compositions inspired his one-time pupil Peter Paul Rubens in about 1625, when the Flemish artist was working on a set of tapestry designs for the Triumph of the Eucharist series. Van Veen's use of preparatory oil sketches probably goes back to his training in Italy in the 1570s. He is often credited-not entirely deservedly-for bringing the technique to the Netherlands, although it was practiced earlier by such artists as Joachim Beuckelaer (see his sketch hanging nearby) and Dick Barendsz. The colored oil sketches favored by Rubens are rather exceptional for Van Veen, who worked mostly in brown or gray, as can be seen in his two other sketches on this wall.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Triumph of the Church: Ecclesia Presented with the Doctrines, Seated in a Chariot Attended by the Four Doctors of the ChurchThe Triumph of the Church: Ecclesia Presented with the Doctrines, Seated in a Chariot Attended by the Four Doctors of the ChurchThe Triumph of the Church: Ecclesia Presented with the Doctrines, Seated in a Chariot Attended by the Four Doctors of the ChurchThe Triumph of the Church: Ecclesia Presented with the Doctrines, Seated in a Chariot Attended by the Four Doctors of the ChurchThe Triumph of the Church: Ecclesia Presented with the Doctrines, Seated in a Chariot Attended by the Four Doctors of the Church

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.