The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew

The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew

Otto van Veen

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This oil sketch on paper is the earliest surviving preparatory work for Otto van Veen's painting for the high altar of Antwerp's church of Saint Andrew, still in situ. Depicted is the crucifixion of the apostle Andrew, ordered by proconsul Aegeus, on horseback at right. Seated at left is his wife Maximilla, who had previously been healed by Andrew and would bury him after he expired on the characteristic X-shaped cross. Van Veen's altarpiece, which also includes three predella paintings, was commissioned in 1593 and completed in 1599. It counts among the first important commissions for a new altarpiece in Antwerp after Iconoclasm, and had an enduring influence on later Flemish artists, including Van Veen's most brilliant pupil, Peter Paul Rubens.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Martyrdom of Saint AndrewThe Martyrdom of Saint AndrewThe Martyrdom of Saint AndrewThe Martyrdom of Saint AndrewThe Martyrdom of Saint Andrew

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.