Self portrait

John Vanderbank, the younger

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The son of the proprietor of the Soho Tapestry Manufactory, Vanderbank attended the academy that Godfrey Kneller (1646–1723) established in Great Queen Street in 1711. In 1720, he partnered with Louis Chéron (1660–1725) to open a new academy in St. Martin’s Lane that held life classes with male and female models and was attended by William Hogarth (1697–1764) and Joseph Highmore (1692–1780). That same year Vanderbank began to practice as a portrait painter and drew this self-portrait around that time. As a draftsman and illustrator Vanderbank demonstrates verve and originality that his paintings often lacki and the present sheet reflects appreciation for the Flemish tradition of Rubens and Van Dyck.

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