Cœnotaphiorum (7)

Hans Vredeman de Vries

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Freestanding funerary monument made up out of two main tiers. The lower tier is characterized by telamons shaped as one-legged, armless soldiers carrying the upper tier. On the upper tier a sleeping man (gisant) in his harnas is placed. He is surrounded by telamons which look like empty harnasses carring blank coats or arms who support the roof structure of the monument. Below the image a Latin text, made up out of four lines divided over two columns is placed.

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