
Leaf from Aedes Walpolianae mounted with two drawings: (a): Salon Chimney, Houghton Hall, Norfolk, Elevation; (b): Salon Ceiling, Houghton Hall, Norfolk
Isaac Ware
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Album leaf mounted with two drawings by Ware. 25.62.40r(a): chimney piece and overmantel frame, and plan for the chimney piece, and 25.62.40r(b): Design for Salon ceiling with decorative carving and a painting of Apollo.
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.