Portrait of George Eliot, seen in profile to the left

Portrait of George Eliot, seen in profile to the left

George Richmond

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The artist's inscription indicates that he made this rough profile sketch of George Eliot, the famous author, from memory a year after her death. Handwriting on the verso demonstrates that the sheet was first used as a letter or memorandum.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Portrait of George Eliot, seen in profile to the leftPortrait of George Eliot, seen in profile to the leftPortrait of George Eliot, seen in profile to the leftPortrait of George Eliot, seen in profile to the leftPortrait of George Eliot, seen in profile to the left

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.