Emperor Matthias

Aegidius Sadeler II

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

During his career as imperial engraver, Sadeler portrayed three emperors. In this richly decorated composition, he has taken the extravagant mannerist, allegorical ornamentation seen in his earlier portrait of Rudolf II (exhibited nearby) to a new extreme. In the upper section, the Three Graces tilt cornucopias to shower the emperor with flowers and gold. To the left of the emperor Mercury tames Pegasus, and on the right Minerva slays the dragon of heresy. Matthias’s head has been depicted naturalistically but he is presented on a pedestal like the sculptural bust of a Roman emperor. Sadeler drew Emperor Matthias’s portrait during a trip to Linz, which he made to reclaim overdue salary.

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