The Seraglio (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. I, pl. 18)

The Seraglio (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. I, pl. 18)

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 Turkish harem derives in part 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, engravings by Gérard Scotin (1643–1715) after Jean Baptiste Vanmour include plate 45, "Femme Turque qui fume (Turkish woman smoking); plate 50, "Fille Turque jouet du canon" (Turkish girl playing a canon), "Fille Turque jouet du tehegour" (Turkish girl playing a tehegour), and plate 54, "Tchinguis, ou Danseuse turque" (Tchinguis woman performing a Turkish dance). Hogarth's print adapts Vanmour's figures, and adds others, placing them in a detailed architectural setting.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Seraglio (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. I, pl. 18)The Seraglio (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. I, pl. 18)The Seraglio (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. I, pl. 18)The Seraglio (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. I, pl. 18)The Seraglio (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. I, pl. 18)

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.