Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist

Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist

Hans Krumpper

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This is one of the most finished and pictorial drawings by Hans Krumpper, who, at the Munich court of William V, Duke of Bavaria, was mainly active as a sculptor. In a lush landscape and surrounded by birds in the tree, the sky and on the river, the Holy Family shares an intimate moment with the young Saint John the Baptist carrying a lamb. A comparable drawing, representing the Virgin combing the Christ Child’s hair in the presence of two angels, is at the Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg (inv. 23678b). Monogrammed drawings displaying the same figure style – with plump features, round eyes, high foreheads, and curly hair – are found among those from the artist’s estate at the Münchner Stadmuseum, Munich (inv. 36/1892, 36/1893).

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the BaptistHoly Family with the Infant Saint John the BaptistHoly Family with the Infant Saint John the BaptistHoly Family with the Infant Saint John the BaptistHoly Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist

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.