Assan, a Young Man

Assan, a Young Man

Jean-Léon Gérôme

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In 1855−56, Gérôme visited Egypt for the first time and spent four months traveling down the Nile. This drawing belongs to a series of sensitively observed ethnographic portraits he made throughout his journey. This extremely refined portrait of a turbaned man with a downcast gaze exemplifies Gérôme’s elegant and exacting draftsmanship.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Assan, a Young ManAssan, a Young ManAssan, a Young ManAssan, a Young ManAssan, a Young Man

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.