A Native Dance (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. I, pl. 11)

A Native Dance (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. I, pl. 11)

William Hogarth

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hogarth made this print early in his career to illustrate a travel book by the French author Aubry de La Mottraye. The image of a Greek dancers derives from images found in "Recueil de cent estampes représentant differéntes nations du Levant..." (A Collection of One Hundred Prints Representing Nations of the Levant, 1712-13). In that earlier publication, relevant engravings by Gérard Scotin (1643–1715), Jacques de Franssières, and Pierre de Rochefort (1673–1728) after Jean Baptiste Vanmour include plate 68, "Dame Grecque dans son Apartment" (Greek woman in her apartment), plate 72, "Fille de Tine, ise de l'archipel" (Girl from the island of Tine), plate 74, "Fille de Chio" (Girl from Chios), plate 75, "Fille de St. Jean de Patmos, isle de l'archipel" (Girl from the island of Patmos). Hogarth's print adapts Vanmour's figures, adds others, and places them in a landscape.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A Native Dance (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. I, pl. 11)A Native Dance (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. I, pl. 11)A Native Dance (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. I, pl. 11)A Native Dance (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. I, pl. 11)A Native Dance (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. I, pl. 11)

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.