An Athlete Stopping a Lion

An Athlete Stopping a Lion

Anne Claude Philippe de Tubières, comte de Caylus

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This print is from a series of nine plates engraved by Caylus and Le Bas that was published in 1737. Two of the subjecs, "Un athlète arrêtant un lion" and "Un chasseur se saisissant d'un ours", were after designs by Bouchardon himself, unlike the rest of the prints in the series which were drawn after classical works.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

An Athlete Stopping a LionAn Athlete Stopping a LionAn Athlete Stopping a LionAn Athlete Stopping a LionAn Athlete Stopping a Lion

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.