Charles XII at Bender (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. II, pl. 30)

Charles XII at Bender (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. II, pl. 30)

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. Charles XII of Sweden is shown at Bender, a Turkish fortress on the Dniester river. In a vignette above, the king appears on horseback near a riverbank accompanied by Baron Ernest Fredrick de Fabrice and several janissaries, with a fortress in the left distance. Below a map shows the king's first and second encampments marked "A" and "AA," with the river "Niester" at center.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Charles XII at Bender (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. II, pl. 30)Charles XII at Bender (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. II, pl. 30)Charles XII at Bender (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. II, pl. 30)Charles XII at Bender (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. II, pl. 30)Charles XII at Bender (Aubry de La Mottraye's "Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...," London, 1724, vol. II, pl. 30)

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.