General Andrew Jackson

Asher Brown Durand

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Andrew Jackson appears as the victorious commander at the battle of New Orleans (a series of engagements between American and British troops from December 24, 1814 to January 8, 1815 at the end of the War of 1812). Jackson led 3,000 troops against a British force twice as large, inflicting heavy losses while keeping American casualties to a minimum. The battle raised American morale at key moment, established Jackson's national reputation, and contributed to his election as president fourteen years later. This engraving was commissioned by S. Converse Vanderlyn's painting, now at New York's City Hall.

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