Cœnotaphiorum (15)

Hans Vredeman de Vries

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Freestanding funerary monument placed in an interior. On top of the tomb the effigy of a sleeping man is placed. Above his head there is a panel flanked by statues of wild men. The lower end of the tomb is characterized by a panel left blank and framed by strapwork decorations. A cloaked man is visible on the right side of the print, within an archway. Below the image a Latin inscription is added consisting of four lines, divided over two columns.

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