
Christ on the Cross
Heinrich Aldegrever
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Christ on the Cross, with the Virgin standing at far left and Mary Magdalen kneeling at her right. To the right of Christ, Saint John, with the head of Mary visible behind him at far right. At bottom left of the cross, the skull.
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.