John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough

John Faber, the Elder

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Faber the Elder moved to London from Holland by 1698 and helped introduce to Britain a type of small monochrome portrait drawing common previously only in the Netherlands. This delicately drawn example, in pen and ink upon vellum, represents the British general and statesman, John Churchill, created Duke of Marlborough in 1702 by Queen Anne. The sitter’s celebrated military successes, including the Battle of Blenheim in 1704, led Britain to victory over France in the War of the Spanish Succession. Marlborough’s image here is based on a well-known portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller, whose circle Faber had joined when he arrived in London.

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art