Mercury in a Decorative Frame with Grotesques

Adriaen Collaert

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This print is a copy after Adriaen Collaert’s Mercury from a series of ornament prints showing the individual Gods involved in the mythological story of the Judgement of Paris, they are placed in roundels and framed by intricate grotesque patterns. The print shows Collaert’s design in reverse and is much cruder in its execution. What is most interesting about this print is that its maker has combined two techniques to create the dark background for his ornaments. One half of the frame is done in blackwork, while the other half is filled with horizontal hatchings. The print is most likely a unique piece, made by an artist who was trying out different techniques and studying their effect.

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