Indulgence for donation of alms towards the building of a Church to the Virgin of Guadalupe (modern facsimile impression)

Samuel Stradanus

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Printed certificate of indulgence issued by Juan Pérez de la Serna, Archbishop of Mexico; used to raise money to finance the construction of the new sanctuary of Tepeyac, consecrated in 1622, which later became the Basilica of Guadalupe. For a study of the print see: C. Bargellini, 'Samuel Stradanus, Flemish Engraver in New Spain', Jaarboek Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kusten Antwerpen, 2011, pp. 11-20.

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