The Pentecost

Master of the Egmont Albums

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This large drawing of the Pentecost—the appearance of the Holy Spirit to Christ’s disciples after his Ascension, described in Chapter Two of the New Testament book Acts of the Apostles—exhibits the distinctive draftsmanship of the Master of the Egmont Albums, so named for a group of drawings in the Yale University Art Gallery formerly in the collection of John Percival, first Earl of Egmont (1683-1748). The densely packed composition and expressive figures—hallmarks of this artist's work—in combination with the intense contrast of light and dark achieved with a painterly application of ink, heighten the drama of the scene. A very similar drawing, with nearly the exact same dimensions, depicting Christ’s Resurrection was acquired in 2012 by the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris (inv. EBA 8429). The two works may have belonged to a larger Passion series.

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