An Allegory of the Union of the House of Orange and the Wittelsbach Family (Design for a Title Page of a Thesis)

An Allegory of the Union of the House of Orange and the Wittelsbach Family (Design for a Title Page of a Thesis)

Jonas Umbach

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This drawing is related to a thesis print made by Bartholomäus Kilian II for Joseph Covellaet’s defense, which took place in Dillingen in 1665. Its pictorial program celebrates the student’s patron, Henriette Adelaide of Savoy, and the Bavarian ruling family. Adelaide, depicted in the guise of the moon, rides a chariot, while her husband, prince-elector Ferdinand Maria, appears as the sun. Four apples held by putti symbolize the couple’s children, and their family tree is watered by bearded men representing the rivers of Bavaria. In the background, women hold the Savoy and Wittelsbach coats of arms against the backdrop of Munich, the electorate’s capital.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

An Allegory of the Union of the House of Orange and the Wittelsbach Family (Design for a Title Page of a Thesis)An Allegory of the Union of the House of Orange and the Wittelsbach Family (Design for a Title Page of a Thesis)An Allegory of the Union of the House of Orange and the Wittelsbach Family (Design for a Title Page of a Thesis)An Allegory of the Union of the House of Orange and the Wittelsbach Family (Design for a Title Page of a Thesis)An Allegory of the Union of the House of Orange and the Wittelsbach Family (Design for a Title Page of a Thesis)

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.