The Annunciation

Albrecht Altdorfer

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mary continues to pray, focusing on the open book before her, as the angel Gabriel announces the coming of Christ. The narrative of the Annunciation (Luke 1:26–37) is, at its core, about the moment when the word of God, contained in the book, became flesh.

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